Joshi's controversial 2G report defeated

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday walked out of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting to discuss the report on the 2G scam, following some unruly scenes.

Joshi abruptly adjourned the meeting and walked out after demands from Congress and DMK that he should resign as the head of the panel.

According to an NDTV report, Joshi has threatened to resign as the chief of the 21-member Public Accounts Committee, whose term expires this Saturday. In an unprecedented gesture, the 11 MPs who voted against him said they held an impromptu election and declared Congress leader Saifuddin Soz the new Chairman of the PAC, it added.

The PAC met at the Parliament House Complex here with sharp divisions within its 22-members on the draft report on the 2G scam. According to PTI, 11 MPs, including one each from SP and BSP, demanded rejection of the controversial draft PAC report on the 2G scam which indirectly criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, apart from indicting former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is now in jail.

The members who opposed the report include nine UPA members — seven Congress, two DMK — and one each from SP and BSP, the report added.

The draft 270-page report, which was circulated among members Wednesday, has criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving an "indirect green signal" to Raja to execute his "unfair and dubious designs" in selling scarce radio waves at throwaway prices.

The report does not hold Manmohan Singh directly responsible for the alleged losses the 2008 sale of telecom licences caused to the nation. However, the prime minister does face criticism in the report.

'Chief' Soz rejects 2G report



Congress member Naveen Jindal said the chairman had not adjourned the 2G meeting. The remaining 11 members then appointed Soz as the acting chairman to preside over the meeting.

Soz, in his capacity as the acting chairman, got a resolution passed rejecting the report, Jindal said.

Soz and the rest of the members then submitted the resolution rejecting the report and the written votes of 11 members to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.