The CPI on Saturday released its dissent note on the “dubious” JPC report, indicting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for colluding with Telecom Minister A Raja for the 2G scam.
Addressing media here, CPI leaders Gurudas Dasgupta and AB Bardhan accused JPC Chairman PC Chacko of a “cover-up” operation in the Spectrum scam and demeaning Parliament. The JPC had on Friday adopted the draft report on 2G scam with a 16:11 majority. The report gave a clean chit to the PM and FM and laid the entire blame of the scam on Raja.
“This is our parallel report. We know Chacko will edit our dissent note by misusing his authority. That is why we are releasing this. We will publish this report in all languages and distribute to public for the awareness of this Government’s humongous scam and loot of the nation,” said Dasgupta, who is also a member of JPC.
Apart from the trio — PM, Chidambaram and Raja — the 60-page report with 10 chapters blamed Attorney General GE Vahanvati and CBI for diluting the probe. “Raja is the villain here, but he certainly would not have been able to do it had he not had the tacit support of the entire Government. The role of the PM is not above board. He ignored the letter of the Cabinet Secretary. Just as the PM ignored the inputs from his Cabinet Secretary, Finance Minister Chidambaram, chose not to act on the feedback given by his Ministry officials…In the course of JPC, it has emerged that Raja and Chidambaram had several meetings, minutes of which are not available. What were these Ministers discussingIJ Why was it that the bureaucracy was seeking to ensure that the price of the Spectrum was revised, but political leadership failed to follow up on what their bureaucrats were saying,” said the note.
The note also squarely blamed former Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar for inaction on the tussle between Telecom and Finance Ministries on Spectrum pricing in 2007. “The Cabinet Secretary behaved in a strange, irresponsible manner, asking the two Ministries to resolve the issue by themselves and then inform the Cabinet Secretariat. The Ministry of Finance kept on the issue till November 2007 after which it fell silent, permitting the Telecom Ministry to continue with its actions unhampered,” read CPI’s dissent note, indicting FM for conniving with Raja.
Terming Vahanvati’s actions as “tool for legalising the illegalities” of Raja, the note said the AG had violated ethics of the legal profession. Supporting the finding of CAG, Dasgupta said JPC was used as a forum by Chacko and ruling party legislators to malign the country’s trustworthy organisation. “A debate over whether the loss is presumptive or not is infructuous because what is being questioned is whether the country had lost heavily or not, confirmed beyond doubt,” said the dissent note.