Question mark over BJP members' participation in JPC

A big question mark looms over whether Bharatiya Janata Party members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum allocation case will attend Thursday's meeting with the Opposition still adamant that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram should be examined by the panel.

BJP Leader and Joint Parliamentary Committee member Yashwant Sinha had dashed off a letter to panel Chairperson P C Chacko earlier this week insisting that the body is of a "special nature" and hence a precedent can be set by calling the prime minister.

He maintained the prime minister was directly involved in certain decisions on 2G spectrum allocation and "he and he alone" can answer some of the questions related to the case.

Sinha had also said the prime minister had offered to present himself before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee on the same issue and hence should not have any objection to facing the JPC.

BJP has clearly told Chacko that it will not attend the JPC meetings till the list of witnesses is finalised and the PM and the finance minister are summoned before it.

The six BJP members of the JPC had stayed away from the last sitting of the panel on October 11 in protest against Chacko's refusal to finalise the list of witnesses and include the prime ninister and Chidambaram in it.

The speaker has informed Chacko that the committee has to first take a decision on the issue before approaching her in the matter and it was, therefore, "premature to intervene at this stage".