Pranab Mukherjee dissents over PM's appearance before PAC

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was wrong in offering to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the 2G spectrum case, saying Singh had "made the offer on his own" and that he would have advised against the step had he been consulted.

The statement, made in Kolkata, sent made waves in political circles, which immediately smelt 'dissent'. Mukherjee was forced to issue another statement later in the day denying any rift between him and the prime minister on the subject.

The initial statement was made at an open session in Bidhan Bhavan, the West Bengal Congress headquarters in Kolkata. Mukherjee told a meeting of state Congress functionaries, "The prime minister declared this on his own, without consulting any of us.

''Had he consulted us, I would have advised him to the contrary, because I am conservative. I believe in following parliamentary norms. Why don't ministers appear before such parliamentary committees? The reason is very simple. Because a minister is accountable to the Lok Sabha ... his accountability is to the entire house, not a part of the house."

The opposition too was quick to pounce. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Delhi, "The country is certainly entitled to know that if the No 2 in the cabinet of Manmohan Singh is not in agreement with him, then on what basis is the PM claiming that his offer to appear before the PAC can ensure a fair investigation into the 2G spectrum issue?"

The CPI too asked the Congress to explain its stand on the issue, with its national secretary D Raja asking whether there was any collective functioning in the UPA government.