party leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar
Joshi that he sought meetings with corporates involved in the 2G scam, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday said the charges were baseless and
were an attempt to malign the parliamentary panel.
These allegations are baseless. This is an attempt to malign the PACs
image. Actually the BJP raised the 2G scam first and former telecom
minister (A. Raja) is in jail because of it, BJP Rajya Sabha member Tarun
Vijay told reporters.
The remark came after NRI Anshuman Mishra, who was dropped soon after being
backed for a Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand, alleged that Joshi, who heads
the PAC looking into the 2G scam, and a female friend of his had asked him
to arrange meetings with companies who allegedly benefited from the 2G scam.
According to Mishra, Joshi had sought the meetings with officials of
companies when the PAC was investigating the 2G scam.
Mishra further claimed that Joshi repeatedly approached him for funds
during the 2004 and 2009 general elections and said his phone records would
prove this.
Stating he respected Joshi, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said: Given
the nature of allegations by a BJP-supported Rajya Sabha candidate who was
forced to withdraw because of internal party differences, I leave it to
Joshis conscience as to what his course of action should be.
Mishra had earlier attacked party veterans L.K. Advani, Yashwant Sinha and
Shanta Kumar for putting a spanner in his efforts to get a seat in the
upper house of Parliament.