New Delhi: Congress on Thursday alleged that the
BJP was shying from debate on 2G issue as its top leadership
was involved in taking "wrong" decisions on spectrum
allocation when NDA was in power which led to huge revenue
losses to the country.
"Is it not a fact that in July 1999 immediately after
the Kargil war the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
took the Communication portfolio from Jagmohan and helped the
Telecom companies which resulted in loss of Rs 60,000 crores
to the country," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari alleged.
The attack on the principal opposition came as
Parliament proceedings were stalled for the 20th consecutive
day today over opposition demand for a JPC probe into the 2G
spectrum scam.
Demanding the BJP to clarify its position on the
spectrum allocation issue, Tewari said the saffron party
should answer on the issue of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan
distributing "free of cost spectrum to the Telecom operators
on Jan 31, 2001.
"In 2004 when elections were on and model code of
conduct was applicable, the then NDA government reduced the
revenue share of the Telecom operators and caused loss to the
exchequer," he told reporters outside Parliament.
Accusing the BJP of unnecessarily politicising the
issue, Tewari said the top BJP leadership didn't want to hold
a debate on the issue in the Parliament as "all of them have
been involved in taking wrong decisions in Spectrum
allocation."
Asked if the CBI raids against former Telecom Minister
A Raja would affect Congress' alliance with the DMK in Tamil
Nadu, he said, "We have an alliance with them. We have
contested the Lok Sabha elections with them and even today we
are running the government together in Tamil Nadu."
Echoing him, Minister of State for Parliamentary
Affairs V Narayanasamy claimed the demand for JPC probe into
the 2G spectrum issue was a BJP-RSS agenda and other
opposition parties had fallen for it.
"This (demand for JPC probe) is a BJP-RSS agenda and
the opposition parties have fallen for it. This demand is only
for political mileage," Narayanasamy told reporters outside
Parliament.
He said the JPC probe demand was unacceptable to the
government and the Congress party as there were other
enforcement agencies and a parliamentary forum investigating
the 2G Spectrum issue.
"Why are they demanding JPC and what purpose it will
serve when the CBI, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate are
already investigating into it and the Public Accounts
Committee of Parliament too will look into the issue?"
Narayanasamy said.
Targeting the BJP for the impasse in Parliament, he
reminded the principal opposition party of what they did when
the Kargil coffin scam and the Tehelka tapes on alleged
corruption in defence deals came out.
"Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself
asked the Opposition parties to come to the two Houses of
Parliament to debate the matter. Now, why is BJP shying away
from a debate in Parliament?" he said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 09, 2010, 17:20