Congress refused the demand of BJP

NEW DELHI: On Wednesday Congress rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation for shooting down a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam, saying the government had taken concrete action on allegations of graft.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said about the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rally in New Delhi, “On the one hand is the concrete action taken by the Congress, on the other is the false rally and double-speak of the BJP.”

“JPC can at best make recommendations,” he said, adding that the BJP and other opposition parties wanted to indulge in “political grandstanding and keep the pot boiling”.

BJP’s Arun Jaitley asked the Prime Minister to give up his job if he was not ready to face a JPC probe into the raging spectrum scandal.

The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha argued that only a JPC would be able to find out why second generation spectrum was allotted at below the market prices in 2008 by the now disgraced DMK leader and former communications minister A Raja.

Hitting out at the BJP, Singhvi said the main opposition party had not taken action following allegations of nepotism against its Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

He alleged that the BJP had established “new records in corruption” and said that it was the only party in the world whose president was caught on camera taking cash.

Singhvi said, “Instead of action against the party president, he was given a ticket,” when about the BJP’s demand for the prime minister’s resignation, Singhvi said it was not the first time the opposition party had attacked Manmohan Singh and made such a demand.

BJP leader L K Advani said he was making one “final appeal” to Manmohan Singh to accept the JPC demand, at the NDA rally.

(News Editor- Naushin Fatima Khan)