New Delhi: The CPI on Sunday demanded a CBI probe
into the role of Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G
spectrum licensing issue, but unlike CPI(M), did not seek his
resignation.
Maintaining that the latest disclosures on the 2G scam
"warrant an investigation" into Chidambaram`s role, the party
said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also "cannot escape his
accountability to the nation by taking offensive against the
media and the Opposition and trying to find hidden hands to
destabilise his Government."
Referring to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee`s statement
in the matter, the CPI Central Secretariat said his distancing
himself from the note from his ministry to the Prime
Minister`s Office on Chidambaram saying it did not reflect his
personal views, "will not fool anybody".
"It is interesting to note that Mukherjee does not speak
anything on the contents of the letter. The issue cannot be
closed with the `truce` between two ministers, as this is not
the internal affair of the Congress or the UPA. 2G is a
national issue," the party said.
It said Chidambaram`s role as the then Finance Minister
and the omissions and commissions in spectrum licensing should
be thoroughly investigated by the CBI.
The agency "cannot decide or argue that it will not
investigate Chidambaram`s role" as it "does not have the right
to decide whether it will investigate about a particular
person or not", the CPI said, adding that the "bankruptcy" of
the ruling coalition was "getting exposed more and more with
every new revelation."
CPI(M) had yesterday demanded Chidambaram`s resignation
saying there was "mounting evidence" about his "direct role
and involvement" in the 2G spectrum scandal.
PTI
