BJP on Friday dubbed the draft JPC report on 2G spectrum scam as a "cover-up" attempt to "save" Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and vowed to raise it in Parliament next week.
The party refused to believe that the Prime Minister was not involved in the process of allocating the 2G spectrum in 2008 and accused Congress of using the JPC to "subvert" the truth.
It accused JPC chief P C Chacko, a Congress leader, of denying an opportunity of deposition to former Telecom Minister A Raja who is the main accused in the scam and had claimed the PM and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were in the loop.
"This looks like a cover-up," BJP President Rajnath Singh told PTI while commenting on the draft report which has given a clean chit to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister.
He pointed out that Raja has been requesting to depose before the JPC to give his version.
"He (Raja) is the main accused. It is surprising that despite his request he was not called. The country would like to know why a minister, who was even jailed in the case, was not called despite his request. This question will definitely be asked in Parliament," Singh said.
Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said "history repeats itself once as a tragedy and again as a farce. This is the second time in history that Congress and UPA neck deep in corruption had subverted the truth using the JPC mechanism."
He said if the JPC finds that Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram were innocent, "all I can tell you is this JPC report will meet the same fate as the Bofors JPC. Its credibility will probably be worse than earlier JPCs".
Recalling the time when the Bofors scam had broken out, Jaitley said a JPC under Late B Shankaranand had come out with a "fictional report" saying the bribes in the deal were actually winding up charges because middlemen and agents were asked to wind up their business.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is a member of the 30-member JPC, said the report appeared like a Congress document in which attempts have been made to save its leaders, including the Prime Minister.
"The draft report looks like a Congress document and not a JPC report in which there is an overpowering desire to save its leaders, including the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, in the 2G scam and is yet to objectively consider the wider ramification of this massive scam which shamed the country," Prasad said.
The BJP President charged that leakage of the JPC draft report appears to be part of a plan.
"Such actions further demonstrate that this government has been playing with the credibility of Constitutional bodies like the Parliamentary Committee," Singh said.
Flagging the issue, Prasad said "the media showed the JPC draft report on 2G scam extensively. This is a gross breach of Parliamentary propriety where any report draft is debated, discussed, amendments are moved in the formal meeting and thereafter views are taken."
"This is a matter of grief and surprise that violating the tradition of discussing the draft report in the meeting in which amendments would be moved even before a discussion could take place, this has come out in the media. This is highly unfortunate and we condemn it," the BJP leader said.
He said the whatever has come out in the media on the contents of the JPC report "we have strong objections over it and we shall convey our serious objection, firmly and forcefully in the formal JPC meeting which is scheduled for April 25."