Congress, DMK plan to scuttle PAC report

The Congress and DMK have gone to war against public accounts committee chairman MM Joshi, accusing him of trying to destabilise the government. HT reports.

The Congress and DMK have gone to war against public accounts committee chairman MM Joshi, accusing him of trying to destabilise the government.

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Plenty of fireworks are expected at Thursday’s meeting, where Congress and DMK members plan to stall the report’s adoption by the PAC, whose term ends on April 30.

In that case, the matter will be left either to the joint parliamentary committee or to the new PAC that takes charge May 1.

On Wednesday, Congress leader KS Rao said “he (Joshi) should resign as PAC chairman” as he has a “hidden agenda”.

Saifuddin Soz said, “Joshi has denigrated the PAC.”

The UPA members of the committee are planning to give their dissent notes to the report that Joshi circulated on Wednesday if it is put to vote.

But since the ruling combine is outweighed — nine against 12 — by non-UPA members in the committee, the combine is trying to get outside support, including from the Samajwadi Party, to stall the report.

The UPA members may demand a detailed discussion, calling for verbatim reports of each evidence and insist that witnesses like former telecom ministers A Raja and Arun Shourie be called and a consensus be hammered out before the report is finalised.