Congress dismisses Shourie's claim on 2G scam

New Delhi, Feb 11 (ANI): Congress on Friday dismissed former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie's claim that he had apprised the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, of the 2G spectrum scam.

"It is most unfortunate and most regrettable that such sweeping allegations were made against a person of impeccable integrity like the Prime Minister. It is a travesty of truth and a conscious attempt to mislead and misinform, confuse and confound," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

"Why such sweeping allegations were made only after the one-man committee chaired by Justice Shivraj Patil submitted a report, which has catalogued certain illegalities and irregularities by successive governments in last eight-nine years as far as bureaucracy and ministers of their departments are concerned," he added.

The Congress spokesperson further said: "Why should the former minister take that report so personally that instead of defending himself, he is attacking the Prime Minister without any basis of facts."

"Is it not to divert attention, to digress from the issue whether for himself or for the BJP? Instead of diverting or digressing, BJP should have enquired, as this government has done, irrespective of the political colour of the specific government," said Singhvi, and added that Shourie raising the issue after lapse of so much time raised serious questions about the true motive of him as well of his party behind bringing the allegations.

According to reports, Shourie, who was the Telecom Minister from January 2003 till May 2004 under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, has claimed that Dr. Manmohan Singh was informed about former telecom minister A Raja's involvement in the 2G-spectrum scam in 2009.

He had earlier said former Telecom Minister A Raja did not follow any norms, while allocating 2G spectrum to telecom companies.

Raja was forced to resign from the Union Cabinet last year after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) faulted him for undervaluing spectrum to favour companies who were largely ineligible for 2G spectrum, and added that the government had probably lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue. (ANI)