At a time when the final arguments in the 2G case have been completed and the Supreme Court has cancelled all the 122 licences of tele-operators, former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is coming out with his own account claiming there was no scam.
The senior Congress leader is all set to reiterate the “Zero loss” theory, propounded earlier by his then ministerial colleague Kapil Sibal, in his forthcoming book.
In his book titled “The Other Side of the Mountain”, Khurshid will try to “explain reasonably” about the governance of UPA-II and what happened exactly in the spectrum and coal blocks allocations.
“Nobody has understood the governance of UPA-II. I would explain what happened then. Now this Government should respond to the allegations they levelled as they are in power now. They rode to success making allegations of 2G and Coal scams against the Congress and then PM Manmohan Singh. The world should know the facts due to which Congress’ image has been tarnished. It is time that we should be credited for some of the best things done by UPA-II,” Khurshid told The Pioneer.
He said he had discussed with Sibal the Zero loss theory during which the latter had revealed the Planning Commission’s agenda for cheapest and affordable communication network soon. He said he would explain the reasons why the incumbent BJP-led Government stormed to power at the Centre raking up the issues unnecessarily.
The SC last year had cancelled all licences granted to eight operators in 2008 by the then Telecom Minister A Raja, the main accused in the 2G scam. It had then ordered that 2G spectrum be auctioned. The book will be countering all the charges levelled against the UPA, Congress and Manmohan by none other than the people within the system then.
Khurshid though did not divulge much details.
However, the book is expected to take on former CAG Vinod Rai, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and former media adviser to the PM Sanjay Baru’s accounts besides former Congress old guard Natwar Singh who had hit out at the Congress and the party leadership.
Khurshid who has been vocal against former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at various fora would also touch upon the subject of “breaking the Anna Hazare- Kejriwal-Kiran Bedi alliance”. Khurshid, an eminent lawyer, is also coming up with a revised version of his book titled ‘At Home in India on Muslims’.