Govt will have to give action taken report on PAC findings: Joshi

"The future of the report is bright. The report is now with the Speaker. It is taken to be presented before the House. The government will have to give a action taken report on it," Joshi told mediapersons in Kolkata.

Noting that it was entirely wrong to say that his report was rejected by the majority of the members, he said after the PAC meeting was adjourned some members had raised dissent once they came to know that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram and some officers were named in the report.

"Such dissent is invalid as it was raised after the meeting was adjourned. Besides, the report has no note of dissent. What they have done is a tamasha," he said.

Referring to the 'election' of Saifuddin Soz to chair the meeting, which rejected the report, Joshi said, "No Rajya Sabha member can chair the PAC." On the Congress demand for removal of Yashwant Sinha from the PAC, Joshi said, "He is not a member of the new committee. He was a member of the old PAC."

In reply to a question, Joshi denied that his report was an indictment of the prime minister and his government. "All we have said in the report is that the prime minister was a mute witness to the scam. The PAC does not indict anyone."

He said that Chidambaram "has not done what he should have" in preventing the scam. "The government has a duty to protect the revenue created by the common people. If it fails, the PAC recommends remedial measures. I'll continue to chase the rupee and see it is going where it is meant for," he said. Alleging that the United Progressive Alliance and its allies were getting embroiled in fresh scams every day, he said, "Ministers are being charged with corruption and court cases are pending."

Regretting that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party opposed the PAC draft report, he said, "I am trying to figure out the reason for their U-turn."

Joshi said the government was making no effort to bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks. "If Hasan Ali says he knows the names of all those who have illegal money in foreign banks, why cannot the government? They are protecting the corrupt and the anti-people."

The veteran BJP leader said he would expose the "mischiefs" of the government in a democratic manner. "I have decided to take this to the people as to how the government is denying them their entitlements."