Published: Monday, Oct 25, 2010, 3:31 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_jaipal-reddy-game-for-house-panel-probe_1457509
The Union government is contemplating a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into all aspects of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), a move the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding for some time now.
While a section in the government is still apprehensive, urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, who headed the group of ministers (GoM) on the Games, is confident that he can “convince” the party high command to accept the JPC probe.
Reddy has argued that the Union government has nothing to hide. No minister from the central government had any role in the scandals whatsoever and a strict monitoring mechanism had been put in place.
The minister finds no sense in being seen as protecting or shielding the corrupt and playing into the hands of the opposition. The government is facing flak due to irregularities committed by certain functionaries of the organising committee and various wings of the Delhi government.
Reddy has taken up the matter with his cabinet colleagues and prime minister Manmohan Singh. The views of the prime minister, who has left for a three-nation tour, are not immediately known, but a number of cabinet ministers and senior party functionaries feel constituting a JPC would help in getting to the bottom of the issue. A serious discussion is expected when the Congress core committee meets before the parliament session which begins on November 9.
In an informal chat with the DNA, Reddy said he had been behind the constitution of JPCs on the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parikh scams. The flaws in the system were detected after the parliamentary probes, and strict rules, procedures and even laws were put in place. It was because of these JPCs that the country never suffered during the economic meltdown or any other economic turmoil, he added.
Those functionaries and ministers, who are connected with parliamentary work and aware that the government does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, are also of the view that once the JPC is constituted, the session would pass off peacefully.
