While the entire nation waiting anxiously waiting for draft PAC repot, both Congress and BJP engaged in mudslinging on Friday accusing each other on one count or the other.  

Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, PAC member and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday accused them of ‘direct complicity’ in the 2G scam and claimed that Singh was in know of at least nine out of ten decisions taken by former Telecom Minister A Raja, which caused a monumental loss to public exchequer.

“I am charging the Prime Minister with direct complicity in this matter. I am charging (then) Finance Minister (Chidambaram) with direct complicity. They have not only not done their constitutional duty but willy-nilly they have become a party to this scam,” Sinha, who is a PAC member, said.

Sinha alleged, “There was complete abdication of responsibility by the Prime Minister. In India’s history there is no precedent of this kind. Nine out of ten decisions taken by (then Telecom Minister) A Raja were in the knowledge of the Prime Minister. Whether he calls it coalition dharma or this or that dharma.”

The BJP said the PAC proceedings held with Congress member Saifuddin Soz in the chair held no significance. “Since yesterday a canard has been spread that Joshi ran away from the meeting. It is on record that he had adjourned the meeting,” Sinha said.

He maintained that as per rules, Soz could not have chaired a PAC meeting as only a Lok Sabha member from the main opposition can hold the chair of this committee. Soz is a Congress member from the Rajya Sabha.

At the same time, Joshi, who was accused of ‘outsourcing’ the draft report, is reportedly trying to find out the basis of allegations that the report was prepared outside Parliament. Traditionally, Parliament’s secretariat prepares a draft report, gives it to the chairman of the related committee to suggest changes required and is then distributed to members for consideration and recommend amendments.

The Lok Sabha speaker is on tour of Arunachal Pradesh and is expected to be in the national capital on Saturday. Joshi, sources claimed, would then brief her about the developments of the Thursday meeting, unsubstantiated allegations against him, his comments on those allegations and would finally submit the report.

“Rules do not prevent him (Joshi) from submitting the report. As far as 11 MPs rejecting it is concerned, it all happened after Joshi adjourned the meting and it has no more than a comic value,” source said.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Ashwani Kumar said, "Joshi's indecent haste to push for adoption of draft report despite strong reservations from a majority of members had done incalculable damage to parliamentary conventions."

Congress's aggression after months of defensive action over graft came amid approaching date for five assembly results. The party hopes to notch a favourable scoreline with Left's decimation in its forts of West Bengal and Kerala, a triumph which change the headlines and also blunt the red stridency. The party thinks that using the changed political atmosphere to make a fresh start in government can help it wrest the initiative after months of drift.