BJP has no right to attack prime minister, says Sibal

With continued deadlock over the opposition's demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scandal, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said today that the Bharatiya Janata Party has no right to attack Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it should rather "look inward".

With continued deadlock over the opposition's demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scandal, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no right to attack Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and it should rather "look inward".

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He criticised BJP leader Arun Jaitley for accusing the prime minister of being defensive and hiding facts on 2G spectrum allocation.

"They (BJP) should not attack the prime minister and say arrogantly that he will have to appear (before committee). This is the level of arrogance I have not seen before. Which committee is he (Jaitley) talking about?" Sibal said talking to reporters in New Delhi.

Sibal said the opposition, especially the BJP, was subverting the constitution by not allowing a debate in parliament.

"If they don't trust their own senior member, then who will they trust. They don't want a debate in parliament through which facts will be known to people of India. So, indirectly they don't trust the people of India," he said.

The prime minister earlier said if required he would appear before parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi even though there was no precedent to that effect.