UPA, Oppn may rake up 2G at PAC meeting

Both the UPA and opposition members want to rake up the 2G spectrum scam at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting scheduled for Monday, even as the panel plans to discuss the Commonwealth Games scam.

Both the UPA and opposition members want to rake up the 2G spectrum scam at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting scheduled for Monday, even as the panel plans to discuss the Commonwealth Games scam.

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The opposition, emboldened by the finance ministry's background note on 2G spectrum allocation involving home minister P Chidambaram, sees this opportunity to revive the draft report rejected earlier.

"PAC chairman sought the finance ministry's 2G note from the PMO on September 26. The PMO sent the note the very next day and it has been circulated among the members. So, there is a need to look at this document," said BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, a member of the PAC.

The Congress too, wants to hit the issue but on a different level. The party aims to focus on the alleged irregularities of the CAG. Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam had written a letter last week to Joshi, demanding the CAG's functioning be discussed in the next meeting.

Another key Congress member in the PAC, K Samba Siva Rao, told HT, "The 2G revenue loss projected in the CAG report is imaginative. There is no scientific basis of the calculation of the loss. The issue needs to be settled."

The opposition sees Nirupam's letter as a Congress ploy to raise doubts on the audit watchdog before some more important CAG reports such as CWG, KG Basin comes up before the parliamentary accounts panel.

The PAC is scheduled to meet some defence and sports ministry officials on Monday and plans to discuss CWG and Adarsh scams. "Our first aim would be to ascertain who made Suresh Kalmadi the chairman of the Organising Committee," said Mahtab.