New Delhi, April 30: Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today evening submitted the committee’s contentious report to the Lok Sabha Speaker while accusing the ruling Congress of attempting to disrupt the panel’s functioning.
Addressing a press conference here, Joshi alleged that some “forces” were trying to disrupt the functioning of the PAC, clearly alluding to the ruling party.
He further accused the Congress of making false allegations against him saying, “There is a motive to destroy democratic institutions.” Putting a question mark on the credibility of the grand old party, Joshi said, “Congress first attacked the CAG and is now not letting the PAC function according to norms.”
He also stressed that, “Government needs to explain its expenditure and people have a right to know how government money is spent.”
Referring to the reports of a serious altercation during the PAC meet on Friday, Joshi countered, “It was a consensual decision in the PAC taken on April 4 to file the report by the end of this month.”
In a shocking revelation, the BJP stalwart said, “Some members of the committee were not supporting the investigations and some even didn’t let the PAC to question witnesses.”
He also revealed that some PAC members were in constant touch with their party colleagues on phones during the meetings and chits were being sent to them instructing them what to say.”
Answering a query on the reported leak of the report, Joshi said, “I have no idea how it happened. We have urged the Speaker to make sure that such incidents don’t happen again in the future.”
Joshi further added that, “I have sent the report to the Speaker’s office and expect her to accept the report and table it in Parliament.”
He also urged people to condemn corruption and take all possible measures to curb the menace.
Reacting to the charges, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The allegations are baseless and absurd. There is an attempt to distort and misrepresent the facts.”
He added that it is for the Speaker to decide whether or not to table the report in the Parliament.
–Agencies