Raids on Raja fail to mollify opposition

Not appeased by the Central Bureau of Investigation's raids on the premises of former telecom minister A Raja and other officials on Tuesday (See: CBI raids Raja's residences), the opposition is clearly hell bent on stalling Parliament till its demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam is met – if then.

Both houses of Parliament were today adjourned without transacting any significant business for the 19th day running, with the government and the opposition sticking to their respective stands on the JPC.

It was trouble from the word go when both houses assembled for the day as opposition members stormed the well, vociferously demanding "We want JPC". They were countered by Congress members, who displayed placards saying "Don't denigrate PAC" and raised slogans like "We want PAC."

"If Parliament had not closed then this (the raids on Raja) would not have been possible. Due to pressure in Parliament and the government is trying hard to fix the problem and mostly it will be done once the JPC is done. There is too much corruption in the country. JPC should be made and the problems should be debated," said Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav.

Suggesting that a JPC should have been constituted long back, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, "People who are guilty should be arrested immediately and sent to Tihar (jail). The case of criminal misappropriation must be started immediately. Conducting raids will not help now - and moreover this is also being done really late, and due to that they got a chance to hide a lot of things. They should be treated as class three prisoners in the jail."

The stand-off over the JPC has ensured that the entire winter session of Parliament has passed without any work being done - daily protests by the opposition have led to both houses being adjourned. Several all-party meetings called by the government to find a compromise have failed.

The opposition says that the Supreme Court's repeated criticism of the slow pace of the CBI's inquiry proves that the agency is coached by the government, which is dependent on the DMK's support (Raja belongs to coalition partner DMK). A JPC, however, is unacceptable to the government because elections in several key states including Tamil Nadu are due next year, and the opposition could use the JPC to target the government for corruption. There are also fears that the BJP would use the JPC's powers to summon the prime minister and embarrass the government ahead of the elections.