2G scam: Allow A Raja to depose before JPC, says Opposition

NEW DELHI: The Opposition on Sunday mounted pressure on Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko to allow former telecom minister A Raja to depose before the panel examining the 2G allocation.

The move comes after Raja’s three-page letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chacko in which he has said he is “willing and indeed anxious” to tell JPC and, through it, the nation “the truth of the matter”, which, he believes, is being “suppressed on the basis of pre-conceived notions, deliberate bias, faulty investigation and erroneous conclusions aided by a media intent on sensationalism”.

BJP leader and JPC member Yashwant Sinha said, “It shouldn’t have come to this that he has to offer (to appear before JPC). He should have been called to JPC.

But they ( Congress and the government) feared that this will open the gates for the prime minister and Chidambaram (to be summoned before JPC). He should be called before JPC.” BJP and the Left members had prepared an exhaustive list of witnesses to be summoned before the parliamentary panel.