BJP asks PM - Did you agree to 2G allocation without auction?

NEW DELHI - Accusing the Congress of abject surrender before partner DMK for survival in office, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if his office had given assent to the 2G spectrum allotment without auction as suggested by Telecom Minister A.Raja.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar demanded the immediate sacking of Raja and said the government’s affidavit to the Supreme Court on the 2G spectrum allotment was a testimony to the “abject surrender of the Congress before the DMK for survival in office”.

“The paralysis on the part of the prime minister to take action against Raja on the worst scam in India proves that he was a partner in the decision,” Javadekar told reporters.

Posing questions to the prime minister, Javadekar said he must answer if the decision to allot 2G spectrum without auction was taken by the department of telecommunications or the cabinet.

“Is it not a fact that the prime minister was fully informed about the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) position on the issue and TRAI had never recommended 2G spectrum allotment without auction?” Javadekar said.

“If 2G allotment without auction was right mode of allotment, then why 3G spectrum was alloted through auction?”

According to Javadekar, Raja had repeatedly said he had sought guidance from the prime minister at every stage.

“This casts heavy responsibility on the PM to clarify whether he has personally approved the procedure which Raja adopted. PM’s silence on the issue is eloquent… The shameful justification of corruption in 2G spectrum allotment is proof of the complete paralysis that has set in in the government,” Javadekar said.

The BJP spokesman said that the government was trying to defend the indefensible.

He said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had decided in 2003 through a cabinet decision that spectrum allocation in future will be done only through auction.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has estimated the loss to the nation to be over Rs.170,000 crore.