Former Telecom Minister has sent a 112-page counter to the JPC draft report on the 2G scam, questioning the clean chit given to the Prime Minister, who he said was part of all the decisions he took with regard to allocation of licences to telecom firms.
In the voluminous report accessed by Express, Raja gave further instances indicting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He mentioned a personal meeting with Prime Minister Singh in the first week of January 2008 during which he discussed allthe issues including subscriber base criteria for allotment of additional spectrum, use of dual technology and issue of new licences.
“He (PM) agreed with the proposed course of action of the DoT,” Raja said in his note to Chacko.
Raja said as directed by the Prime Minister he had held discussions with Mukherjee in December 2007 in which then Solicitor General G E Vahanvati was also present. Raja also stated that the SG had prepared a note for discussion with Mukherjee regarding the subscriber base criteria for allotment of additional spectrum, use of dual technology and issue of new licences.
“The letter of 26.12.2007 sent by the MoC&IT (Ministry of Communication andInformation Technology) to the Hon’ble PM is nothing but an encapsulation of the note given by the SG and the subsequent discussions between the SG, EAM and MoC&IT,” Raja said.
Raja devoted an entire chapter to charging that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was duly and fully informed on spectrum allocation. Raja said the allegation levelled by CBI against him for ‘misleading’ Prime Minister without even recording his statement is totally false. “On what basis do they then say that he was misled? I do hope that the JPC will not commit the same blunder: If they wish to draw any conclusions on this issue, it is mandatory to record both my statements and the statement of PM,” Raja said.
He added that he discussed every issue of spectrum personally with the Prime Minister, and spectrum was allocated only after the concurrence of PM and the Finance Minister.
Raja also contended that he managed to retain the Telecom portfolio even after the controversy and the 2009 general election indicates that he never misled the Prime Minister. “If he felt that I had offended him in any manner, my reappoint would not have happened.”
Taking a dig at the agencies probing the scam, Raja said the allegation of a nexus between him and private operators has fallen flat after the CBI, ED and Income Tax sleuths could not find any substantial evidence against him or his extended family.