New Delhi: A day after the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then finance minister P Chidambaram over A Raja's statement on the 2G scam, the Congress Tuesday hit back saying that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also indicted by the former telecommunications minister.
"If the BJP decides to make a song and dance about one part of Raja's statement, then the other part of his statement squarely indicts Atal Bihari Vajpayee also," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
Raja had said in court Monday: "..If policies pursued by me were wrong, then all former telecom ministers since 1993 should also be in jail with me."
The Congress spokesperson had earlier alleged that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took away the charge of telecommunications from Jagmohan during the 1999 Kargil war.
Tewari alleged that the policy of migration adopted by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Vajpayee had caused a loss of Rs.43,000 crore to the exchequer.
He also said that Raja was only an "accused" and his comments in court cannot be relied up on.
"A Raja is not in the council of ministers, putting unnecessary reliance upon the arguments of an accused in a court of law only serves to vitiate the democratic process," he said.
Raja's lawyer Sushil Kumar Monday had said that 2G spectrum transactions were approved by then finance minister Chidambaram in the presence of the Prime Minister.
Raja however toned down his comment saying he had no intention to indict any one and the media misquoted him.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 15:08