UPA shields Chidambaram from 2G bombs of Subramanian Swamy

New Delhi, Apr 29: After being cornered by

and many opposition party leaders, the Union Home Minister

finally has seen a ray hope when the government issued a statement defending him (Chidambaram).

In its statement on Saturday, Apr 28, the government slapped the Janata Party chief for hurling "baseless" allegations against the home minister and clarified all doubts regarding the controversial Aircel-Maxis Deal.

"It will be abundantly clear that there was no delay whatsoever. It is unfortunate that baseless allegations should be made without verifying the facts," reads the statement issued by the government on Saturday.

Recently, Subramanian Swamy accused Chidambaram of favouring his son Karti in making money out of the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006. According to Swamy, Maxis company officials in 2005 had approached the telecom company Aircel which was verging on bankruptcy. Maxis had offered to buy 74 percent stake in Aircel for nearly 4,000 crore. However, this deal needed permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Clarifying his stand over accusing Chidambaram and his son regarding this deal, Swamy claimed, "But this permission - Chidambaram delayed it because he wanted a cut - this is my allegation."

During a press conference, Swamy alleged that Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Pvt Ltd, in which Karti Chidambaram is a 94 per cent equity holder, had invested and had majority of shares in Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited of Aircel before the Maxis-Aircel Deal was sanctioned by the then Finance Minister. Swamy asserted that after the deal went through, Karti Chidambaram had made a huge amount of money, though he (Swamy) did not specify the exact amount of money.

Swamy claimed that the home minister should resign from his post immediately and soon many more people joined the chorus raised by him (Swamy). The Parliament saw ruckus over the same issue. Now, citing the government's statement, it seems that Chidambaram might have got some relief.

However, such government statements can not resist Swamy from accusing Chidambaram. On the same day, the Janata Party supremo tweeted, "One more scam in 2G: Defence released spectrum on conditions. Yet PC /Raja gave 6.2 MHz free of cost to companies flouting conditions. Watch."

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