CPM leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that it would not be possible for the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to come to a conclusion without a clarification from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the claims made by former Telecom Minister A Raja.Yechury, a JPC member, also questioning the logic behind the conclusions in the draft report prepared by JPC Chairman P C Chacko. In a note sent to the other members of the JPC, Yechury raised pointed questions to the PM and the Finance Minister.
Quoting from the letter written By A Raja to Chacko, Yechury said that Raja had stated that he had informed the PM at each step of the process through personal as well as Cabinet meetings. Yechury’s asked the PM whether Raja had met him in the first week of January 2008. “If this meeting did take place, did the Prime Minister agree with Raja on the proposed course of action as Raja claims?,” he asked.“Keeping in mind the high office he occupies, the Prime Minister can give answers to the JPC orally or in writing. Without answers from Manmohan, it is difficult to understand how the JPC can come to any conclusion regarding the Prime Minister being misled by A Raja,” Yechury said.He also asked why the PM did not cancel the Letters of Intent and followed proper procedure to issue the licences.
He wanted to know from the Finance Minister why the Finance Ministry did not press the issue of entry and spectrum fee being pegged to 2001 prices in 2008. Since a former consent was required from the Finance Ministry to fix the licence fees, he wanted to know whether any such consent was given by the ministry.