The Congress on Friday remained cautious in defending telecom minister Kapil Sibal’s criticism on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on 2G spectrum allocation.
“There is no question of backing or distancing from Sibal. The documents are either with Sibal, who is the telecom minister or with PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi. The party does not have any document. The party cannot say anything about it as the party has nothing to do with it. How can the party say what is factually correct and what is not,” Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
He was responding to a volley of questions on whether it was proper for a Union minister to attack the Comptroller and Auditor General, a constitutional body, and if there was no irregularity in the spectrum allocation then whether Mr A. Raja can be reinducted into the Cabinet.
Reporters also wanted to know whether Mr Sibal’s press conference on this issue on Friday made the other investigating agency redundant.
Mr Shakeel Ahmed made it clear that the Congress was not defending Mr Raja, who was compelled to resign from the Cabinet on the allegations of corruption in the 2G spectrum allocation.
Mr Ahmed refused to give a categorical answer on whether it was proper for a minister to publicly criticise the report of a constitutional body, saying: “It is for government to comment upon it.”
Mr Ahmed, at the same time, hastened to add that the “CAG report is for scrutiny. Any MP or minister can raise a question mark on a CAG report based on the latter’s findings. If Sibal has said something based on documents, we do not think it is wrong on his part.”
Asked whether the party is of the view that the former telecom minister’s resignation was uncalled for and taken in a haste if there was no corruption in the 2G spectrum allocation, a senior leader said, “We are not defending Raja. Let there be a fair probe. But you cannot hang anybody just like that.”
He also said that Mr Sibal’s statements should be having a soothing effect on the party and this should have been done earlier.