Opposition, UPA brace for bigger fight in JPC, PAC

Upbeat after finding that the Supreme Court verdict on the 2G spectrum "vindicated" its stand, the Opposition plans to raise the pitch against the government in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and even in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

Upbeat after finding that the Supreme Court verdict on the 2G spectrum "vindicated" its stand, the Opposition plans to raise the pitch against the government in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and even in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The JPC, which is currently probing the 2G scam, had earlier produced a report that indicted the government but couldn’t get it adopted.

CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury told HT, “the SC verdict vindicates our stand in one issue - the cancellation of the 122 licenses. Now, in the JPC, we will focus on the culpability of the government and making guidelines to avoid such scams in the future.”

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The Opposition and the UPA members had locked horns over the quantity of the loss due to 2G spectrum distribution. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta claims the SC verdict has also nailed the government's argument that the loss was notional. "The SC's verdict also proved that the country suffered a substantial loss," he said

BJD member in the PAC, Bhartruhari Mahtab said the Opposition will now again try to adopt the earlier report of the PAC that was rejected by the UPA members. "I hope good sense prevails among the UPA members and it helps us to pass the report."