Opposition MPs forced adjournments on every day of the
winter session to demand a cross-party probe into a telecoms scandal, in which
mobile phone licenses were allegedly sold off in 2008 for a small fraction of
their value.
“If they (the opposition) assure that there will be a
debate, I am ready to call a special session of Parliament before the budget
session so that this issue is debated,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said
late Wednesday.
Mukherjee asked the main opposition BJP to agree to the
debate in Parliament and “not destroy the institution itself.”
But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is keen to
highlight a massive scandal that could have cost the treasury $40 billion, said
it stuck by its demands.
The BJP Thursday did not agree to Mukherjee’s offer of a
special session of parliament on the scam, saying it did not want a debate but
a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the issue.
“We do not want a debate on the JPC but want the JPC,”
senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told
reporters here.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also raised
doubts about the offer, saying it had been made in a strange manner.
CPI-M leader Nilotpal Basu said the party had not taken a
view on Mukherjee’s offer. “It has come in strange fashion,” Basu said.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said the JPC
was a reasonable demand and it was for the government to explain why it was
shying away.
Mukherjee on Thursday, however, slammed the opposition for
not having let Parliament function in the winter session, saying they should
“apologize”.
He pointed out that it was the opposition that had stopped
Parliament from functioning this session.
The BJP accuses Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has
maintained a reputation for honesty amid India’s murky political world, of
failing to act over the scandal concerning the sale of second-generation (2G)
mobile licenses.
But the government has constantly refused calls for a
cross-party probe, saying other independent investigations are under way, and
Parliament could again be deadlocked when it reconvenes for its budget session
in February.
