The 2G spectrum heat, which has already singed Home Minister P Chidambaram, is now being directed at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) questioning the PM’s ‘silent’ approval to the spectrum allocation process. Consequently, the Congress and the government have come out in full support of the PM and Chidambaram, questioning the BJP on its conduct in the telecom sector during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule and if they had ever auctioned spectrum separately.
Meanwhile, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose controversial note has put Chidambaram in the dock, rushed from Washington to New York to discuss with the prime minister, the strategy to be adopted to counter this crisis back home.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “Before questioning the prime minister, the BJP should get its facts right. During the NDA rule, was even an ounce of spectrum ever auctioned ? If it had been, they could have turned around to have a difference of opinion with the prime minister. The BJP has developed this innate capacity of distancing itself from facts.”
Interestingly, Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh came out in support of the home minister.
“Chidambaram is a man of integrity and competence and there is no question of any charge against him.” Lashing out at the BJP, he said, “If there have been losses over 2G, it should not be forgotten that the NDA government had changed the policy of alloting telecom circles through competitive tendering introduced by the Narsimha Rao-led Congress government. They had changed the policy for the same licence holders and introduced the provisions of license fee and revenue sharing. Did no loss occur due to this?”
He added the RSS had made Chidambaram a target as he had sped up investigations in the terror cases involving the former.However, the prime minister’s move to summon the finance minister to New York — despite going on record to say he would be discussing the issue once he got back to India — is itself indicative of the seriousness of the crisis.
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Even as Sonia Gandhi has urged the government to present a united front, the government will have to take action to restore people’s confidence in the government, Congress insiders allege. “Merely sweeping it under the carpet or urging the outcome of JPC’s probe has to be awaited will not do,” said the Congress functionary. There is also a possibility that the Supreme Court, before which the controversial note has been submitted, could direct a probe. The move would once again embarrass the UPA government.
Minister of State V Narainswamy defended the prime minister. “He (the PM) is a man of impeccable integrity”, he said. He also reiterated there was no rift between Chidambaram and Mukherjee.
Mukherjee, who was scheduled to meet the media in Washington on Sunday, has now pre-poned his meeting to reach New York by Sunday. He will be staying in the same hotel as the PM.