``The government should tell us what their principles and priorities are to strengthen the corporation and also to make it more accountable,'' Yadav added. The corporation had received no guidelines so far, he pointed out, adding the government was itself ``in doldrums over defining the rule for the corporation''.

Coming down heavily on the allegation that the corporation had failed to perform satisfactorily, Yadav said the BJP-led coalition government was in a hurry to ``capture'' thePrasar Bharati Corporation instead of providing suggestions and framing rules to make it more accountable and transparent.''Newly appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said the Board members were leaders in their respective fields but ``they may not be good administrators''. Although the idea of giving autonomy to DD and AIR could not be faulted, its functioning left ``much to be desired'', he declared. He had further said that his party echoed senior minister Sushma Swaraj's opposition to the Prasar Bharati Ordinance which, she felt, was issued ``to help few people''.

The idea of an autonomous corporation was mooted by L K Advani during his tenure as Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting in order to ``snatch Doordarshan as well as AIR from the hands of the ruling parties, especially the Congress'', Yadav said, adding, ``When the BJP came to power, he was worried about how to use it as a mouthpiece.''

``The Prasar Bharati Corporation has not beengiven opportunities to prove itself,'' Yadav said. While making an official announcement on the fate of the Prasar Bharati Ordinance, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Madan Lal Khurana had said the government wanted to take a fresh look at public service broadcasting.

While the government has the power to replace the executive members of the corporation, six key persons V G Verghese, V R Rao, A Padmanabhan, Nikhil Chakravorty and Romila Thapar are beyond its reach.