Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley Thursday said the latest twist in the 2G scam - on the role of then finance minister P. Chidambaram - showed that the UPA government was at war with itself. He praised Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as the “wisest man in the government” and hoped he would make a full and frank disclosure on the controversy.

“The UPA government is increasingly at war with(in). On the one hand there is lack of trust with people, on the other there is lack of confidence between ministers. A civil war like situation has emerged,” Jaitley said at a function organised by Delhi Study Group here.

He was referring to a note sent by the finance ministry in March this year which referred to decisions taken by Chidambaram as the finance minister in 2008.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were “mute spectators”. “The legitimacy of the government has been eroded,” he added.

Jaitley said Chidambaram has several questions to answer about the value of the spectrum. “It is not an internal matter of the government. It involves public revenue.”

Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, took exception to remarks of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is in the US, that the matter relating to 2G allocation was sub judice.

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction, implying that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.

The BJP leader said the National Democratic Alliance government had also taken decisions concerning allocation of spectrum which did not lead to controversies. He said in later years of the Vajpayee government, ministers for communications and finance took decisions on spectrum on behalf of cabinet and implemented them.

He said the same system of decision making was to be followed in 2007-08 regarding 2G spectrum allocations.

Jaitley said that on Nov 22, 2007, then finance secretary D. Subbarao wrote to his counterpart in the communications ministry raising concerns that spectrum was being allocated at 2001 prices, and suggested that either current valuation or indexation should be done.

Referring to former communications minister A. Raja, who is in jail, Jaitley said the main complaint against him was that he “gave licence for spectrum at 2001 prices” on Jan 11, 2008.

Jaitley said Chidambaram wrote a letter Jan 15, in which he said auction was the correct way of giving spectrum but added that his ministry treats the allocations already made “as a closed chapter.”

“The loot done four days before be treated as a closed chapter. What is the logic behind this?” Jaitley asked.

He said there was no answer to the question that the man “who was to protect the national exchequer, why did he change his position.”

Pointing fingers at the prime minister, Jaitley said he did not intervene in the matter.

“At least tell people if you were informed or had no knowledge of it.” he said, adding that Manmohan Singh in the past put the onus of decisions on the “compulsion of coalition politics.”

Referring to demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Chidambaram’s role in the 2G spectrum, Jaitley said the government cannot take a plea that nothing further can be done as a charge sheet has been filed in the case.

Complimenting Mukherjee for the note sent to the PMO, Jaitley said “at least someone in the Congress had mustered courage to speak the truth.”

He said the charge that the interest of revenue was compromised with, was being made by “a most experienced and probably the wisest man in the government”. Jaitley said he hoped Mukherjee would not shirk from his “responsibility” to make a full and frank disclosure.

He also attacked the government over rising food prices and accused it of failing to solve major terror cases. “The government is heartless,” he said.

Jaitley said the “distrust” that the central government had with states will not make it easy to approve the Goods Service Tax.

In a veiled reference to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who is seen to be prime ministerial candidate of the Congress, Jaitley said the political leadership should be based on “experience and capacity” and not dynasty.