Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday termed political conspiracy the Opposition's (particularly the BJP and the AIADMK) demand for the resignation of Home Minister P. Chidambaram in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. Mr. Sibal said Mr. Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister in the UPA-I regime, had no role in the scam.
“The demand for Mr. Chidambaram's resignation is a political conspiracy. He had no role anywhere. Whatever decisions he took, he did so after consultations,” Mr. Sibal told journalists here.
Claiming that Mr. Chidambaram had never recommended to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the issue of giving start-up spectrum for free to telecom licensees should be treated as a “closed chapter,” he said there was some confusion over it. “His comments were about additional spectrum charges.”
Mr. Sibal, along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal, also justified why the minutes of a meeting between Mr. Chidambaram (then Finance Minister) and the then Communications Minister, A. Raja, had not been recorded. “The meeting was not such where the situation warranted preparation of any minutes...the meeting was not required to record minutes. There are several occasions where two Ministers meet even to discuss a specific issue but minutes are not made,” he added.
Asked about the allegations that the former Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, had set up a telephone exchange in Chennai at his residence and office of Sun TV, owned by his brother Kalanithi Maran, and it was being misused by Sun TV, Mr. Sibal said the case was being investigated by the CBI.
