NDA out to malign PC, says Sibal
A Raja did not meet Chidambaram before issuing LoI: Telecom Minister
Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday defended Home Minister P Chidambaram in connection with the 2G spectrum pricing row and alleged that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was making a desperate attempt to make parliamentary democracy dysfunctional.
Addressing a press conference here, he said: “People in the NDA are trying to malign and defame Chidambaram. We reject all allegations against him in the 2G scam.
Chidambaram is a valued colleague. He discharged his duties without any fear or favour.”
Sibal remarks came in the background of opposition disrupting Parliament proceedings demanding Chidambaram’s resignation following a Delhi court allowing Subramanian Swamy to depose himself as a witness in a complaint seeking to file a case against the Union home minister.
Sibal also clarified that former telecom minister A Raja did not hold any meeting with Chidambaram before issuing the Letter of Intent (LoI) to telecom operators (2G spectrum allocation) on January 10, 2008.
“In fact, the record will show that the Ministry of Finance had no knowledge that the LoIs would be issued on January 10, 2008,” Sibal said.
He said Chidambaram as finance minister was in no way responsible for issuing the LoI by the telecom ministry then headed by Raja. He said no official of the Finance Ministry, including the then finance minister, had committed any “irregularity or misconduct” in the spectrum allocation.
Sibal said as finance minister, it was Chidambaram who raised the issue of revision of entry fee, but it was the Telecom Ministry which was of the view that it would adopt the same policy that had been followed since 2003. “This included charging the same entry fee of about Rs 1,650 crore,” he said. “It is therefore preposterous to suggest that Shri P Chidambaram has any role to play in “fixing” the entry fee for the LoIs issued on January 10, 2008.”
When asked about the Finance Ministry documents that purportedly showed Chidambaram and Raja meeting on fixing 2G prices, Sibal said there were meetings after the LoIs were issued in January but not before that. Sibal also defended the policy on 2G spectrum allocation and pointed out that even the courts have not made out any charge of loss of revenue. In a four-page statement, Sibal listed out in detail the policies related to the opening up of the telecom sector since 1994.
On the acceptance of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy’s petition in a Delhi court, Sibal said the magistrate concerned was only following the law. Sibal said it was wrong for a section of the media to paint this as a victory for Swamy.
