Joshi likely to be next PAC chairman

Former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi is likely to become the next chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee while Yashwant Sinha will replace him as head of the Standing Committee on Finance, BJP sources said.

Joshi is likely to replace Gopinath Munde, who became PAC chairperson on January 1 when expelled BJP Member of Parliament Jaswant Singh resigned from the post in December.

Munde was made PAC chairman for the remaining period of the financial year 2009-10 and his term ends on March 31.

The post of PAC chairman, which goes to the main Opposition as per convention, was in the news in September last when Singh refused BJP's request to step down.

Singh was summarily expelled on August 19, 2009 at the BJP chintan baithak (brainstorming session) in Shimla for authoring a book on M A Jinnah in which he called the Pakistan-founder secular and held Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel responsible for partition of the country.

Yashwant Sinha, who is also a member of PAC, is likely to replace Joshi as chairman of Standing Committee on Finance. This should placate the former finance minister as he was unhappy till now since the party had denied him chairmanship of any standing committee.

Sushma Swaraj, who was then deputy leader of BJP in Lok Sabha, also became head of Standing Committee on External Affairs which could have gone to Sinha.

BJP has three seats in the PAC. Last year, after the 15th Lok Sabha was constituted, Singh, Sinha and Munde were made members of PAC by the party.

Image: Former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi