The Public Accounts Committee Chairman and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi launched a scathing attack on the Congress Party for trying to sabotage the Public Accounts Committee — the Parliamentary Committee that examines the government’s expenditure and revenue.
Joshi accused senior Congress ministers of plotting to disturb and over-turn the functioning of the Public Accounts Committee — which is currently investigating the central auditor’s report on the 2G scam.
Joshi said Congress ministers are briefing members of the PAC at the Congress office on the stand to be taken in the meetings.
“They want to make it a captive committee. They want to make PAC into a puppet of the government. No one should try to direct the PAC from behind the scenes. This is not the job of the ministers,” Joshi told media in Lucknow.
“If Government ministers [act].. as if they are the directors and these [members] are the actors,” Joshi said.
Joshi’s reaction has come in the wake of coordinated attempts by Congress and DMK MPs in the PAC to overturn the initial draft report which was critical of the government.
Joshi also claimed that Government ministers were also approaching other party members to try to ‘win them over’ to the Government’s side.
“The Parliamentary Affairs minister approaches PAC members from other parties and says “stay on our side, not on their side. What is this side business in PAC? There is no ‘our side or your side’ in PAC,” he said.
He said the PAC is determined to “follow the money,” even though the government ministries are not cooperating with it.
“No ministry is willing to say how much is the loss. The finance ministry says we can’t judge the loss. They are not even ready to accept that there has been a scam,” he said.