Government eases stance on JPC, may introduce resolution in House

The government today said it might bring a resolution in Parliament to pave the way for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the allegations of corruption in the allocation of spectrum for second-generation telecom services.

Even as the all-party meet convened by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee remained inconclusive, the UPA government's firefighter, Pranab Mukherjee, however, said no price was higher than the need to restore normalcy in Parliament, hinting that the government was amenable to a JPC probe.
 
The second all-party meeting is likely to take place on 21 February.
 
Leader of the Opposition in the House Sushma Swaraj also said the government might finally accept their demand as it wanted to resolve the deadlock ahead of the budget session.
 
Reports also quoted Mukherjee as saying that the government wanted Parliament to run at any cost even as the Oppositions stuck to their demand for a joint parliamentary probe into the 2G spectrum scam.

Indications are that the JPC could be set up at the start of the upcoming three-month Budget session when the Opposition focus would be on the Budget.

The Budget session of Parliament begins on 21 February. The government will present the General Budget in the Lok Sabha on 28 February.

Both opposition BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance as also one-time UPA ally the Left have been holding on to their stance that there would be no Parliament if there is no JPC.