Congress supports CBI's statement that Raja 'misled' the PM

New Delhi, Apr 15: Congress backed the CBI statement that former Telecom Minister A Raja had "misled" the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on policy matters pertaining to allocation of 2G spectrum.

"CBI statement is a fact because Prime Minister was misled", party spokesman P C Chacko told reporters.

Chacko, who headed the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum allocation issue, said that there were "deviations" to the first come first served principle. [2G scam: A Raja changed cut-off date to favour firms; misled Manmohan Singh, CBI says]

At the outset, Chacko said that the issue was sub-judice and now the special court has to pronounce the verdict.

Meanwhile, Commencing final arguments in the case in the Court, Special Public Prosecutor Anand Grover said that Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had advanced the cut-off date to favour accused firms in allocation of 2G licences.

Grover argued that Raja had granted spectrum to "ineligible" companies like Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd (STPL) and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd.

He said that the first-come-first-serve (FCFS) policy was changed to favour some of the accused and Raja even rejected the proposal of the then Law Minister who had proposed that some of the key policy issues be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers.

Referring to the letters written by Raja on November 2, 2007 to the then Prime Minister, Grover said, "He (Raja), infact, misled him (Manmohan Singh) on FCFS and cut-off date."

PTI