Parliament deadlocked for the 15th working day

Parliament remained deadlocked for the 15th working day, NDA on Thursday declared that there was no going back on the issue of demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the 2G spectrum scam.It, however, indicated that it has no plans to bring a no-confidence motion against the government on the issue;

"2G scam is a multi-dimensional scam, undermining democracy itself... Business houses talking of composition of the government... in view of this nature... for a thorough probe and to bring all guilty to book, nothing short of a JPC can do justice to the task," senior BJP leader L K Advani said.Accusing the government of provoking it to bring a no-confidence motion when only year has passed since the Lok Sabha polls, he suggested that such a course of action was not planned, noting that "every MP wants to serve the full term".

Besides, he said, he was for a fixed term for legislatures in the country and have also met the Prime Minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha in this regard.Advani said that the NDA has decided to launch a "crusade" to mobilise public opinion against corruption. He appealed to other opposition parties which have supported the demand for JPC to join in the endeavour.

"Why is the Government running scared of a Joint Parliamentary Committee? The Committee will be headed by a Government nominee," Advani asked and told the Congress-led coalition that the responsibility for the parliamentary stalemate rests squarely on its shoulders.

Alleging that the autonomy and independence of the CBI has been "seriously compromised", he said the investigations by the agency "no longer inspire confidence."

"It has become a convenient instrument in the hands of the Government either to whitewash certain investigations or to harass political opponents", the BJP veteran said.

Noting that the Central Vigilance Commission is the internal vigilance authority of the Government, he said "the appointment of its chief has completely demolished the credibility of the CVC as an institution".

"A person chargesheeted in a corruption case, who attempted to deny the CVC and CAG its authority to question the impropriety in the 2G spectrum allotment, was appointed as its head," he alleged.

He said that the opposition was no longer interested in merely talking out the issue and it wants action. "We had to resort to an extraordinary step of a parliamentary stalemate when scam after scam were being pushed under the carpet by the Government."

Replying to a number of queries concerning corruption in the BJP-ruled Karnataka and the allegations against Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, he merely said "we are dealing with it and are confident that we will deal with it... There is no comparison".

"What can we do when we do not have so many corrupt people", he remarked when asked to react to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's poser that when her party was taking action in regard to corruption why the BJP was silent on the Karnataka CM.