New Delhi: BJP on Friday refuted the accusations
of Telecom Minister A Raja against the NDA government and
senior party leader Arun Jaitley, saying that he was speaking
"in desperation" and demanded that he be sacked for alleged
discrepancies in 2G Spectrum allotment.
"A Raja is speaking in desperation and indulging in
falsehood. The core question is if 3G Spectrum can be
auctioned why was 2G Spectrum not auctioned to get the best
price as suggested by (telecom regulator) TRAI," BJP
spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told agency.
Raja had earlier in the day alleged that the erstwhile
BJP-led NDA government had distributed free spectrum to
operators. He called it the "biggest ever scam" and said it
had deprived the exchequer of over Rs 1,60,000 crore in
revenue.
He also accused Jaitley, who has called for his
resignation, of favouring major operators during the NDA rule
and also defending one of them in the high court.
"Raja has no explanations to all the charges (against
him) and is only making baseless allegations against BJP and
Jaitley," Prasad said.
The Rajya Sabha MP accused Raja of giving 2G Spectrum in
2007 at 2001 prices though the "telecom sector has grown
phenomenally" since.
"Raja should be sacked immediately," he said.
Prasad alleged that 2G tender applications were
"ante-dated" to September 25, 2007 from the earlier date of
October 25, 2007 to benefit a select few applicants. All those
companies which applied after September 25, 2007 were not
considered, he claimed.
"Nine companies having no experience in telecom were
awarded Spectrum," he said.
These companies sold their stakes to foreign companies
just two months later for "Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore",
the BJP leader said.
The 2G Spectrum allocation was allocated at Rs 1,650
crore by the government each to the nine operators.
"These are glaring infirmities for which CBI
investigation is going on," Prasad said.
Bureau Report
