BANGALORE: Senior BJP leader and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Murali Manohar Joshi on Sunday said that the PAC was ready to probe the alleged fraud involving Reliance Petroleum in the sale of gas from the KG basin if a consensus among its members existed.Addressing reporters here on Sunday, he referred to the CAG report, which has criticised the petroleum ministry for favouring Reliance Petroleum, and said he was ready to probe the issue.He also sought to know if the government had sent back the draft report to the CAG with its explanation. "If it hasn't, then it should send it immediately. Any delay could give a poor picture of the government," he added.He also demanded the government to explain why it allowed a whopping increase in the initial project development cost of the K G basin from just Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 45,000 crore.Because of this, the selling price of gas from K G fields increased to Rs 4.2 per BBTU from Rs 1.2 per BBTU, whereas the governmentrun PSU ONGC was selling it for a mere Rs 1.8 per BBTU. This is where the secret of gas price increase lies, he said.Joshi accused the UPA government of trying to scuttle the PAC report on the 2G Spectrum scam. "As a PAC chairman, I have experienced unprecedented misbehaviour on the part of the government," he said."The Parliamentary Affairs minister went to the extent of approaching the Opposition member of PAC asking him not to support the report," the former Union minister added.He also took exception to Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal for questioning the authority of the CAG to access government files. The CAG is a Constitutional body and it cannot be dictated by any ministry, Joshi said while asking the Centre to initiate a global debate on the CAG's functioning, if it had any doubts about it.Meanwhile, he alleged the UPA government of trying to brutally crush the voices of dissent."After crushing down Ramdev's moment, the Centre is now threatening Anna Hazare and warning him of dire consequences, which reminds me of the imposition of emergency in 1975," he added.'K G scandal larger than 2G'The awarding of contract for the extraction of gas from KG basin was a much larger scam than the Rs 1.75 lakh crore 2G scam, pointed out Senior BJP leader and Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Murali Manohar Joshi, demanding the Centre to place before the Parliament the CAG report on production sharing contracts awarded to Ambaniled company.Addressing party workers at 'Janasangharsha Abhiyan', Murali Manohar Joshi alleged that government was trying to suppress the CAG report, and 'all norms were flouted in awarding the contract to the Ambaniled Reliance Industries.' He termed KG basin contract ''a biggest fraud committed against the people of the nation''.
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