BJP, Left back Raja’s demand to testify before JPC on 2G scam

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties on Tuesday backed former telecom minister A Raja's demand that he be allowed to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G spectrum allocation scam as a witness.

Raja, a prime accused in the 2G scam case, had on 23 February urged Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to allow him to appear before the JPC, headed by Congress MP P C Chacko, as a witness.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who is also a member of the JPC, said, "It is an eminently reasonable demand by Raja. I think he should be called by JPC. And not only him, but others involved should also be called. A meeting of JPC should be called to decide Raja's deposition."

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, "We have written a letter to him. Raja should be called. That would be arbitrary if he is not called."

Chacko on Tuesday maintained that a decision will be taken by the JPC in its next meeting. But this is likely to divide the JPC with opposition members from the BJP and Left parties likely to use Raja's deposition to mount pressure on Chacko to get finance minister P Chidambaram and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Officially, the final call on Raja's testimony is with the Lok Sabha speaker and the JPC chief, but the Congress seems to be worried.

If Raja tells the JPC, as he did in the court, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the loop in the 2G spectrum allocation decision making, then demands for the latter to testify might increase.