Destabilising forces at work: PM

Back home: Opposition prematurely restless, says Manmohan Singh

Talking to journalists on board Air India One, the Prime Minister, however, virtually confirmed the veracity of the recently surfaced Ministry of Finance note, which allegedly cast a shadow on Home Minister P Chidambaram’s role in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation by the Ministry of Telecommunication. He said the note was “designed to set out record” of what had taken place during the 2-G allocations in 2007.

The Prime Minister said the Opposition parties were getting “prematurely restless” and trying to take advantage of “some weak points” of the UPA Government to force a mid-term poll. “But that (mid-term poll) is not going to happen. We have a mandate to govern and govern well for five years and we will stay our course and complete our tenure,” he said, adding that the Opposition should wait for two-and-a-half years more before the next elections take place.

The Prime Minister was talking to journalists on board his special aircraft while returning to New Delhi after a week-long visit to New York. He, however, defended his controversial decision to approve change in the terms of reference of a Group of Ministers on December 7, 2006, excluding spectrum pricing from its mandate and thus giving a free hand to the telecom ministry in the sale of licenses. Singh said he had approved changes in the terms of reference of the GoM on the advice of the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran.

The alleged irregularities in 2G spectrum allocations and all other scams haunting the UPA in its second term happened before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and the Congress-led coalition had won the polls and got a renewed mandate from people to govern for five years more, the Prime Minister said, adding that the negative perception about the his government had little to do with its perception. “I suspect some other forces were trying to destabilize our polity. This is not simply a concern about our performance,” he added. He did not elaborate what he meant by “other forces”.