Govt holds talks with BJP leaders on JPC

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday reached out to BJP for ending the impasse in Parliament over setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe corruption issues.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee invited Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to seek their views on the JPC issue. "We will not boycott the President's address. But the government will have to give an assurance on JPC on February 22. That alone can end the crisis," said Jaitley after the meeting attended by AK Antony, P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad and PK Bansal.

BJP leaders reiterated that JPC should cover all corruption issues like 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh Housing.

Though the party has been demanding a JPC probe into all these issues, it has not spelt out its strategy if the government agrees to setting up the parliamentary panel only on 2G spectrum. "We are hopeful that the government will accept our demand and the impasse will be resolved," Swaraj said.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had hinted at the possibility of constituting a JPC. During an interaction with TV editors, Singh said he was willing to appear before any committee, including a JPC. "This is an entirely wrong impression that I was the one blocking the agreement on a JPC," he said.

There is optimism in BJP that the government will not turn down their demand for a JPC this time, though nitty-gritties have yet to be worked out.

Sources in the government said it will constitute a JPC with 21 MPs -14 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha. Congress is yet to decide on the chairman of the panel.