New Delhi, Oct.26 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday reiterated its demand that Telecom Minister A.Raja be sacked for his controversial role in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Addressing a news conference in the capital here this afternoon, BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitely claimed that by allocating 2G spectrum at prices that were in existence in 2001 and not what was the prevailing rate in 2009, A.Raja had colluded in a fraud and loss of more than Rs.60,000 crores, making it the largest scam in independent India history.
"It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister has chosen to comment on the innocence of the minister, even while the investigations are on. There was no occasion for the Prime Minister to send such a signal to the investigative agencies directly under him," Jaitely said.
"This country has been robbed of a large amount of money by this misdemeanour of the Telecom Department. The compulsions of the coalition politics should not come in the way of an honest investigation. Propriety requires that while the investigations are under way, the minister should cease to be in office. His continuation in that ministry is itself a deterrent to an honest and independent investigation," he added.
"The entire nation is closely watching this investigation. Let this investigation not result in holding civil servants guilty and the minister innocent. It was the minister who is the prime accused and the civil servants were only carrying out his dictates," Jaitely further said.
He said that with the Central Bureau of Investigation registering a regular case with regard to the allotment of spectrum for the 2-G license issued by the Department of Telecommunications in 2007; the offices of the Department of Telecommunications have been searched and various documents have been seized, there was serious ground to assume that an impropriety had been committed in the public domain.
"When spectrum was alloted in 2008, why was it done at 2001 prices?" he asked.
Jaitley said an all-India licence was taken at the cost of Rs. 1,651 Crore by a licensee who sold a large part of its equity to foreign investors at USD 2 billion.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad described as "reprehensible" Sibal's comments against the CAG.
"He (Sibal) has chosen to publicly criticise and condemn a constitutional body like the CAG when the entire report of CAG is under scrutiny before the PAC where the department of Sibal could have filed its explanation to CAG report as per well laid out Parliamentary norms," Prasad told PTI.
He alleged that Sibal has over-reached the "entire Parliamentary propriety" and charged him with breach of privilege.
"Sibal's entire comment is an attempt to justify in an overt or covert manner the inglorious corruption of Raja in UPA-II which has caused serious loss of tax payers' money in lakhs of crores," Prasad said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said the Telecom Minister's "belated justification" would only further expose the corruption on UPA-II.
Addressing a news conference in the capital here this afternoon, BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitely claimed that by allocating 2G spectrum at prices that were in existence in 2001 and not what was the prevailing rate in 2009, A.Raja had colluded in a fraud and loss of more than Rs.60,000 crores, making it the largest scam in independent India history.
"It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister has chosen to comment on the innocence of the minister, even while the investigations are on. There was no occasion for the Prime Minister to send such a signal to the investigative agencies directly under him," Jaitely said.
"This country has been robbed of a large amount of money by this misdemeanour of the Telecom Department. The compulsions of the coalition politics should not come in the way of an honest investigation. Propriety requires that while the investigations are under way, the minister should cease to be in office. His continuation in that ministry is itself a deterrent to an honest and independent investigation," he added.
"The entire nation is closely watching this investigation. Let this investigation not result in holding civil servants guilty and the minister innocent. It was the minister who is the prime accused and the civil servants were only carrying out his dictates," Jaitely further said.
He said that with the Central Bureau of Investigation registering a regular case with regard to the allotment of spectrum for the 2-G license issued by the Department of Telecommunications in 2007; the offices of the Department of Telecommunications have been searched and various documents have been seized, there was serious ground to assume that an impropriety had been committed in the public domain.
"When spectrum was alloted in 2008, why was it done at 2001 prices?" he asked.
Jaitley said an all-India licence was taken at the cost of Rs. 1,651 Crore by a licensee who sold a large part of its equity to foreign investors at USD 2 billion.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad described as "reprehensible" Sibal's comments against the CAG.
"He (Sibal) has chosen to publicly criticise and condemn a constitutional body like the CAG when the entire report of CAG is under scrutiny before the PAC where the department of Sibal could have filed its explanation to CAG report as per well laid out Parliamentary norms," Prasad told PTI.
He alleged that Sibal has over-reached the "entire Parliamentary propriety" and charged him with breach of privilege.
"Sibal's entire comment is an attempt to justify in an overt or covert manner the inglorious corruption of Raja in UPA-II which has caused serious loss of tax payers' money in lakhs of crores," Prasad said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said the Telecom Minister's "belated justification" would only further expose the corruption on UPA-II.
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