BJP says new 2G auction was ‘manipulated’
The BJP-led NDA on Sunday accused the Congress-led UPA-2 government of “deliberately manipulating” the recent auction of 2G spectrum and demanded a probe into the matter. Speaking at a press conference in Kolkata Sunday, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that the recent auction of 2G spectrum barely yielded one-third of the amount that was expected.
“There is a distinct possibility that this auction was deliberately manipulated. Through this auction the government wants to prove that the CAG calculation of presumptive loss of `1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer was erroneous,” he said.
Careful investigation must be made about this entire auction,” Dr Joshi said. He expressed surprise at the “important telecom players not participating” and demanded an investigation into the entire process of bidding.
He admonished the government for openly criticising the supreme auditor and dared the Congress to bring in an impeachment motion against the CAG. “It is unconstitutional to criticise the CAG either publicly or in private. By criticising a constitutional body, they are insulting the constitution. If they have the facts then why don’t they bring in an impeachment motion?”
and get him removed,” said Dr Joshi.
The senior BJP leader added, “I want to challenge the government to impeach the CAG if it has anything against him. All ministers who criticised the CAG owe an apology.” Continuing his attack, Dr Joshi asserted: “The government has been a complete failure. It has lost the mandate to govern the country. Bad days are ahead.”
It maybe recalled that the Central government, which had set a reserve price of `14,000 crore for pan-India spectrum on the basis of CAG’s assumption of `1.76 lakh crore loss caused to the exchequer in the previous sale in 2008, managed a meagre `9,407.64 crore in the auction held last week.
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