JPC on 2G scam keeps Cong on tenterhooks

The announcement of the JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) to probe the 2G scam has brought peace in Parliament but its constitution is posing a big problem.

While the head has yet to be appointed, a controversy has broken out over the nomination of Jaswant Singh and ashwant Sinha by the BJP. The Congress has said that it would lodge a protest against their nomination at the very first meeting of the JPC as they were finance ministers in the NDA Government.

Party's Rajya Sabha member, Abhishek Singhvi, who was among the candidates the Congress wanted on the JPC, has opted out. Singhvi's contention is that he had appeared for a telecom company in a court.

The Congress is likely to cite Singhvi's clash of interest plank while seeking withdrawal of Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha.

Meanwhile, talks with some senior Congress leaders reveal that, unlike the JPCs in the past, the JPC on 2 G scam, can make things uncomfortable for the Congress. Since the composition of the JPC will be decided on the basis of the strength of political parties in Parliament, this JPC will have a fair sprinkling of members of the Opposition parties. And this would lead a lot of confrontation between the Government and the Opposition.

Old- timers recall that at the time of the JPC on Bofors, the Congress had an easy time as it had a brute majority. Packed with Congress MPs and headed by a senior minister, Shankaranand, it bulldozed the Opposition and was able to exonerate everybody.

Congress leaders say that since the scope of the JPC on 2G scam pertains to 1996- 2009 period which also had tenures of the NDA, there will be a lot of sparing. " The recent spat between BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj and telecom minister, Kapil Sibal, in the Parliament is a foretaste of the battle ahead", said a Congress leader.