PM rebuffs Sinha's demand for appearance before JPC

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today virtually rejected BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's demand for his appearance before JPC on 2G, saying the panel should take a call on it even as he asserted that he had nothing to hide.


Two days after Sinha, a JPC member, wrote to him, Singh responded by saying that all "pertinent" documents related to 2G spectrum allocation of 2008 were available with the JPC.

"The decision as to what evidence should be sought and which individuals should be asked to appear before the JPC is a matter that needs to be decided internally by the JPC and its Chairman," the Prime Minister said in his letter to Sinha.

Singh underscored that he had said "from the beginning that neither the Government nor I have anything to hide in this matter" related to 2G spectrum allocation.

"You are aware that all pertinent records and documents available with the Government have already been placed at the disposal of the JPC," he told the BJP leader.

Sinha's letter to the Prime Minister had triggered a fresh war in JPC with its chairman P C Chacko yesterday rubbishing the demand as a "political stunt".

Chacko said Sinha's letter to the Prime Minister directly asking him to appear before the JPC was against established norms.

Sinha had used former Telecom Minister A Raja's communication to the JPC to demand that the Prime Minister should appear before the committee to "clear" his name.

The BJP leader had contended that Raja had levelled "serious allegations" against Singh and if he had nothing to hide, he should not hesitate to appear before the JPC.

Raja, who has repeatedly failed to persuade JPC to call him as witness, wrote to the committee last month saying the Prime Minister had been kept in the loop on 2G spectrum allocation.