Clear your name before JPC, Yashwant tells PM

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sigh has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G scam to “clear your name” following allegations levelled against him. In a letter to Dr. Singh, Mr. Sinha cited the recent communication of the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, in which he had claimed that all the decisions he took were with the consent of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and said any hesitation by Dr. Singh to appear before the JPC would prove that he had “something to hide.” The former Finance Minister pointed out that when the Public Accounts Committee was examining the CAG report on the 2G scam, Dr. Singh had publicly offered to appear before it to enable the PAC reach the “right conclusions.” “You have not made a similar offer to the JPC despite the fact that many members of the JPC have publicly demanded that you appear before it. I think it is in your own interest to appear before the JPC and clear your name. You may also suggest the Finance Minister to make a similar offer,” Mr. Sinha wrote. He has also complained to the Prime Minister that JPC Chairman P.C. Chacko is subverting the very objective of the JPC to get to the bottom of the truth on the issuance of 2G licences. Mr. Sinha feels there is no rationale behind Mr. Chacko sitting on the representation made by the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, expressing his wish to appear before the JPC. Several members on the committee have also written to the JPC Chairman to call Mr. Raja as a witness on the ground that he will be a valuable source in probing the grant of 2G licences. Mr. Sinha said on Monday that the delay by Mr. Chacko in taking a call on Mr. Raja’s request was a “serious omission.” “...I saw in my mail a letter from A. Raja to Chacko which casts serious doubts about the JPC’s intention and in that letter Raja says he has written three or four letters to Chacko and in his replies, the JPC Chairman just acknowledges his letters and said nothing about his coming before the panel as a witness,” he said. The BJP leader said there were serious doubts about the intentions of the government and some of the members who represent it on the panel on “whether the JPC is meant to arrive at the truth, uncover the truth or conceal the truth.” “I think we are proceeding in a direction where the JPC will be used to conceal the truth rather than expose the truth. And it is a very serious matter. Unfortunately, the Chairman of the JPC, despite our requests, he is not calling a meeting of the panel so that (the) matter could be thrashed out in such a meeting,” Mr. Sinha said.