2G scam: PM rejects demand to depose before JPC

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has virtually rejected BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's demand that he depose before JPC, saying all records relating to the issue of 2G licences have been provided to the Parliament panel.

''All pertinent records and documents available with the government have already been placed with the joint parliamentary committee looking into the 2G matter,'' the prime minister said in his reply to Yashwant Sinha's letter.

He reiterated that neither the government nor he himself has anything to hide in this matter, adding that it is for the JPC and its chairman (P C Chacko) to decide on who should appear before it.

"The decision as to what evidence should be sought and which individuals should be asked to appear before the JPC is a matter that needs to be decided internally by the JPC and its chairman," the prime minister said in his letter to Sinha.

"Neither the government nor I have anything to hide in this matter" related to 2G spectrum allocation, the prime minister said.

JPC chairman P C Chacko had taken exception to Sinha's letter to the prime minister and had rubbished it as a "political stunt".

Chacko said Sinha's letter to the prime minister asking him to appear before the JPC was against established norms.

"How can a member of the JPC write a letter to the prime minister? It is for the committee to take a decision. It is only a political stunt and against norms of Parliamentary procedure," Chacko said.

Even if the JPC wants to summon the prime minister, it cannot call a minister as a witness till a unanimous resolution was passed. "The resolution will then have to be sent to the speaker (Lok Sabha) who will take a decision,'' he said.

While demanding that the prime minister appear before the JPC to clear the air, Sinha had also cited a communication by former telecom minister A Raja to the JPC demanding that the prime minister should appear before the committee to "clear" his name.

Sinha also had contended that since Raja had levelled "serious allegations" against the prime minister it is apt that he should not hesitate to appear before the JPC.

Raja, also had last month written to the JPC saying the prime minister had been kept in the loop on 2G spectrum allocation.