BJP set to ask JPC

The JPC is scheduled to meet tomorrow with the stated agenda of an “internal discussion for finalising future programme of work of the committee”.

Sources said party members would ask JPC chairman P C Chacko to call the PM, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and senior PMO officials T K A Nair and Pulok Chatterjee. If Chacko refuses to accept their demand, the BJP members may resort to a walkout, followed by either an announcement of a boycott or en masse resignations from the panel.

“What is the point of having a JPC if we cannot examine the Prime Minister, Chidambaram, D V Subba Rao, T K A Nair and Pulok Chatterjee?” said a BJP member of the committee.

“It is time we take a decisive position,” said another party member. The BJP also intends to cite the example of the 2G JPC to reject any government offer to set up a similar committee on the coal scam as well.

The BJP has six representatives in the 30-member JPC — Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Harin Pathak.

While the JPC may continue without any BJP members on board, the party’s calculation is that a boycott or en masse resignations will reinforce the corruption allegation against the UPA and render the Prime Minister more vulnerable.

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