CPI-M asks PM to come out clean on 2G spectrum allocation

NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Saturday asking Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to clarify his stand on the 2G spectrum allocation said he should come out clean over the issue.

CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury after a Central Committee meeting here today said the Prime Minister should come clean, as his high office should be above suspicion.

“We have stated it publicly, I have stated it number of times and it even when the Parliament getting disrupted that we want the Prime Minister of India, it’s an office which should not be having question marks raised against him and given his stature, his reputation, given the need for the country today we think he should clarify his position and come clean over this issue,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, another CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia said there would be no let up in the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the issue.

“We definitely want the Parliament to work properly but the government does not want that. We appealed that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) should be formed to scrutinize the telecom scam, which has the money of our country. We have lost 1.76 trillion rupees where it has gone we do not know,” said Acharia.

“There should be thorough investigation about the whole matter about where has the money gone, who are involved and actions should be taken against them. The government is just not ready to further investigate into the matter; they are not ready to form a JPC to investigate the matter. If they form the JCP, the Parliament would surely function,” he added.

Earlier today, breaking his silence amidst the logjam in Parliament, Dr Manmohan Singh promised action against anybody for any ‘wrong thing’ done in the 2G spectrum allocation, and appealed to opposition parties to allow Parliament to function, saying the government is ‘not afraid’ of discussing any issue.

“There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that if any wrong thing has been done by anybody, he or she will be brought to book,” said Dr Singh.

“Various aspects of the 2G spectrum allocation are being looked into by respective investigating agencies in the domain of their interest. But for all these to happen, in a democracy we have to allow Parliament to function. We are ready to discuss all issues. We are not afraid of discussions,” he said, when asked on the deadlock over the 2G issue.

While appealing to political parties, he said in a democracy, there was need for “reasoned debate” to raise “nationally-acceptable” approaches.

The 2G spectrum allocation has reportedly caused an alleged loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore to the Government, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has stated in a damning report.

The report further states that former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja had no apparent logical or valid reasons to ignore the advice of the Law and Finance Ministries while allocating telecom spectrum to several firms in 2007-08. (ANI)