BJP: Raja should not be made a scapegoat
The main Opposition BJP on Thursday said inquiry into the 2G spectrum allocation scam should continue till all guilty are brought to book and should not make former telecom minister A. Raja as a “scapegoat”.
The party also attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for remaining silent “for three years” on the 2G spectrum issue to “save his chair”. The BJP demanded to know who is the “godfather” of Mr Raja as he alone is not responsible for decisions cleared by the Union Cabinet. The party, meanwhile, remained firm on its stand for a JPC probe into all corruption cases, including 2G spectrum allocation and financial irregularities in Commonwealth Games.
“The decisions by A. Raja and other ministers, were taken with the permission of the Union Cabinet and the Prime Minister some where or the other during the process. So who is Raja’s godfather and who all were involved should be revealed to the nation which is the right of the people?” BJP chief Nitin Gadkari asked.
Mr Gadkari alleged that the Congress and UPA were involved in the 2-G Spectrum allocation scam and without them this scandal was not possible. “The principal secretary wrote a note that the GoM taking out the pricing clause would be harmful for the nation. If the Prime Minister had accepted it then, this situation, perhaps, would not have arisen,” Mr Gadkari said.
Targeting Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said “Due to Prime Minister’s silence for three years in a bid to save his chair, the nation had to face such a huge loss.” “After three years, when you arrest him (Raja), that money cannot be brought back. It is a theatre of the absurd...,” he said. Mr Jaitley asked why the government and the PM failed to take action when details of the alleged corruption in allocation of 2G radiowaves was in public domain for the last three years.
He claimed that as the Finance Minister, P Chidambaram had written to the Prime Minister in January, 2008 to stop allocation of 2G spectrum at 2001 rates and had suggested that the licences should be auctioned.
Post new comment