Home India Politics JPC asked to quiz Chidambaram on 2G

JPC asked to quiz Chidambaram on 2G

By IANS,

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha has written to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), asking it to quiz Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his alleged involvement in the telecom scandal when he was finance minister.

Sinha sent a letter on Wednesday to P.C. Chacko, chairman of the JPC examining India’s telecom policies from 1998-2008, sources said Thursday.

The sources said that many other JPC members have also urged Chacko to call various former finance ministers as witnesses before the multi-party parliamentary panel probing the 2G scam.

“I am collecting all the letters and the committee will take a decision on whom to call,” Chacko told reporters after a JPC meeting here.

He said politicians, including “former telecom ministers and finance ministers, will appear before the committee” after it was done with quizzing all other witnesses, including former telecom officials and representatives of private telecom firms who had allegedly benefited during former IT and communication minister A. Raja’s tenure.

Raja, who is now in the Tihar Jail, recently dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram in the 2G case.

During a court hearing over the case Tuesday, Raja asked why Manmohan Singh had not constituted a group of ministers (GoM) for 2G spectrum allocation.

He also wanted Chidambaram to be called as witness in the case before the court.