In a strident response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark that “there are many skeletons in the Opposition's cupboard,” the BJP on Monday accused him of vitiating the environment even before the start of the Parliament session and this was meant to deflect attention from several inconvenient questions being raised against him in the 2G spectrum scandal.
At a joint news conference here, Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley said available information left little scope for ambiguity that Dr. Singh was involved in ‘micro-managing' the telecom policy and allotment of 2G licences.
‘Unwarranted remark’
The Prime Minister's “unwarranted, unprovoked and irresponsible” remark against the Opposition was a bogey to divert attention from the several questions for which he had no answer, the BJP leaders said.
To a question, Mr. Jaitley said the Opposition had no skeletons in its cupboard. “Let them raise the issues pertaining to the Opposition. We would answer.”
Seeking answers from Dr. Singh on specific issues in the 2G matter, the BJP leaders said the Prime Minister had changed his stand several times.
“From an initial support to his Telecom Minister Shri A. Raja, whom he defended as following a well-established policy, he then pleaded ignorance of telecom matters and informed Parliament that he had trusted the judgment of his Ministers and when Shri Raja and the then Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, came with an agreed proposal, he unsuspectingly accepted the same.”
PMO clarification
On the PMO's clarification, on the noting by the Prime Minister's Private Secretary on a file, that Dr. Singh wanted to maintain an ‘arms length distance' on the 2G spectrum, Mr. Jaitley said it only sought to give an impression that Dr. Singh was ‘hands-on' on spectrum allotment.
The BJP leaders said Mr. Raja had kept Dr. Singh informed through at least nine letters that spectrum allocation was to be made not by auction and that in 2008, spectrum was being allotted at 2001 prices. Mr. Raja had also informed the Prime Minister that he had changed the basis of the first come, first served policy, which would no longer depend on the date of application but on the date of compliance i.e. the date of payment of entry fee.
Dr. Singh already agreed that Mr. Raja and Mr. Chidambaram had, at a meeting in the first week of July 2008, explained to him the lower entry fee rationale. Mr. Jaitley said the government now admitted that when some of the companies which were given licence and spectrum went for issuance of additional equity in favour of some foreign entities, the then Finance Minister was fully involved and the Prime Minister was informed that the sale of equity was as per the FDI (foreign direct investment) policy.
The inconsistency on the part of Dr. Singh made his position far worse, the BJP leaders said, adding a Prime Minister, who maintained an “arm's length distance,” was trying to plead ignorance on the ground that he did not know.
‘Simple economics’
“Did it not strike the ‘hands-on' PM that if a sale of a fraction of the shares of a company which owned the licence and the spectrum could fetch Rs. 6,000 crore, how the government could have allotted the entire spectrum at Rs.1,651 crore? This was simple economics, a subject of the PM's specialisation,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Keywords: BJP, Manmohan Singh, Monsoon Session, 2G spectrum scam
Comments:
It is a well known fact from day one that nothing happened in the allotment of spectrum to the pre- selected companies without the knowledge of the Prime Minister and when pushed by the Supreme court and under mounting public pressure, there was no option to proceed with legal action. Even so, the Prime Minister never lost an opprtunity to subtly defend the indefensible and in that process, he has proved to be consistently inconsistent and at times became somewhat belligerent ! The latest outburst that 'the opposition TOO has too many skeletons in its cupboard' is a case in point. This shows how desperation has driven one who meets with stiff resistance on each occasion he tries to defend the indefensible , will not even hesitate to blackmail his detractors. Surely,he has miserably betrayed the public confidence in his administrative capabilities, he earned in his tenure as the finance minister in the cabinet of Mr.P.V. Narasimha Rao. What a pitiable fall in standards !
The 'honesty' safety jacket of the Prime Minister has slid off his shoulders. He is now bereft of any protection from the opposition onslaught on the many financial scams his government is tainted with. He should know that he cannot escape retribution even in the unlikely event of his convincing the opposition and the people at large that he had no direct role in the many mega scams and his ministers only had dragged the government into these since he will still stand indicted in the peoples' court for deriliction of duty as the head of the government. He will soon realise that the economic growth it brings about is not the only yardstick that measures the success of a government.
The scams which have been the burning issues of present day India have raised the govt. on a higher platform.How can one fight one's own elected govt? India must find the safest solution soon.
In order to keep the Opposition parties at Arms Length the PM had made those remarks. Let the opposition allow the governemnt to table the facts in the Loksabha and then raise all issues. Let them not fall prey to the dubious designs of the UPA provoking the opposition to stall the proceedings of the Lok Sabha and then shed crocodile tesars.
BJP is but politically exploiting the extraordinary incompetency of Dr. Singh handling of issues arising out of 2G spectrum and many other scandals. The contradictions and inexplicable silence on these issuse has justifiably exposed his lack of vision, ability and leadership qualities. We get an unmistakable feeling that he has allowed himself to be a prisoner of a coterie determined to loot the nation. It is matter of deep regret that he is betraying the trust placed him by vast majority who expected so much from him.
The prime minister decidedly is on a weak wicket and obviousy finds himself in a frighteningly precarious and helpless situation on the issue of 2g spectrum.He seems to adopt an inconsistent technique of prevarication and indulges in tissue of lies and falsehood with the result he is crashing fast on public estimate.It is time dr singh known for his 'IMPECCABLE HONESTY' MAKES A SINCERE ATTEMPT TO REDEFINE AND IN THE PROCESS ENLIGHTEN HIS COUNTRYMEN about his claim of 'impeccable honesty'.