Pranab declines to comment on Raja issue
November 14th, 2010 - 10:33 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday refused to answer questions on Telecom Minister A. Raja or the 2G spectrum allocation, holding that anything on it will only be said in parliament.
He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit.
Earlier, during the day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi met senior party leaders to discuss the issue after opposition stalled parliament last week to demand the ouster of Raja over the scam.
According to the Congress sources, the party has already stated that a decision on continuation of Raja in the cabinet had to be taken by his party and alliance partner, DMK. They also cited Raja’s remarks that a lobby opposing mobile number portability was targeting him.
Raja has been accused of ignoring the advice of the finance and law ministries, as also the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, while allocating 2G spectrum thus allegedly caused the national exchequer a loss of 1.76 trillion ($40 billion).
The telecom department had followed the policy of first-come-first-served basis in the allocation of 2G spectrum licences and the cut-off date was arbitrarily changed and the licences were also awarded to just 120 of the 575 applicants.
- No question of my resigning: Raja - Nov 12, 2010
- No question of resigning, matter sub judice: Raja (Lead) - Nov 12, 2010
- CAG indicts Raja for arbitrariness, ignoring PM's advice - Nov 16, 2010
- Full faith in judiciary, no question of resigning: Raja (Second Lead) - Nov 12, 2010
- Congress, DMK discuss Raja fate; Monday crucial (Lead) - Nov 14, 2010
- PM, Sonia meet Congress leaders over Raja - Nov 14, 2010
- No proposal for cancellation of allocated 2G spectrum: DOT - Nov 11, 2010
- Sibal moves motion for JPC in Rajya Sabha (Lead) - Mar 01, 2011
- CAG submits report on 2G spectrum - Nov 10, 2010
- Raja resigns over spectrum row, DMK relents (Intro Roundup) - Nov 15, 2010
- Chidambaram decided 2G spectrum prices with Raja: Swamy - Nov 22, 2011
- Raja attends Lok Sabha - May 16, 2012
- Raja ignored PM on 2G, cost nation Rs.1.76 lakh crore: Auditor (Roundup) - Nov 16, 2010
- Don't treat 3G in continuation of 2G, TRAI said in 2006: Witness - Mar 15, 2012
- Some questions on the 2G spectrum scam - May 20, 2011
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