The Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G irregularities is meeting in New Delhi on Thursday; the principal opposition party the BJP will be attending the meeting.

Highlight of the Thursday’s meeting is that the principal opposition party, the BJP which had boycotted the last two meetings calling for summoning Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for explanation, has decided to attend the meeting.

The decision was announced by Dharmendra Pradhan, who is BJP representative in the JPC.

Summoning PM as witness out of question: JPC chairman

Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam P C Chacko has ruled out summoning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to depose before the panel, saying there was no such precedent.

“It is out of the question to call the Prime Minister before the JPC as witness as there is no precedent of calling the Prime Ministers before the JPCs,” he said on Wednesday.

On reports that the BJP is likely to attend the JPC meeting on Thursday, ending its boycott of the panel to once again press for inclusion of Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses, he said it was most welcome.

The BJP members reported decision to attend the JPC meeting has proved that there was no justification for their boycott, he said.

On summoning Chidambaram as witness, Chacko said it would be “decided on the basis of consensus”.

Referring to the allegation of CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta that the Attorney General was not called before the JPC on 11th October, Chacko said he was out of the country that day.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati would be appearing before the JPC, he added.

He said the extended period of the JPC would expire by December and one more extension would be essential as only 75 percent work was completed.

The mobile operators association had been called for Thursday’s JPC meeting, Chacko said.