New Delhi: The telecom scam, which has struck at the heart of Indian politics, forcing the resignations of senior ministers and dumping others in jail, has delivered another forceful blow. A note on the scam sent to the Prime Minister's Office in March exposes one of the bitterest rivalries within the UPA - that of Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram.
The 14-page note, prepared by a senior bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and sanctioned by Mr Mukherjee, suggests that Mr Chidambaram did not do enough to prevent the swindle when he was Finance Minister in 2008. The note relies heavily on technicalities, says Mr Chidambaram could have "stuck to the stand" of an auction of highly-valuable spectrum, and delivers to the Opposition the windfall of two of the government's senior-most ministers at war.
Mr Mukherjee is currently in the US. At a FICCI event in New York, when asked about the ministry's note he avoided answering and said he cannot comment as the matter is sub judice. But later at a public forum, when asked by former US diplomat about what his government was doing to fight corruption, the minister said it has taken several measures to fight the menace including enacting the Right to Information Act. He further added that it was because of an RTI application that a note which is making headlines in India was made public.
The original 2G swindle rests on how A Raja, who was Telecom Minister in 2008, chose to give away mobile network licences and accompanying second-generation or 2G frequency in 2008. Mr Raja is in jail. Among the charges against him is that he chose not to auction the spectrum, opting instead to give licences on a first-come-first-serve basis to ineligible companies. The lack of an auction, some experts say, has cost the government thousands of crores.
While the Opposition has repeatedly accused Mr Chidambaram and the Prime Minister of allowing Mr Raja to swindle uninterrupted, the fact that his own government has now faulted Mr Chidambaram allows for a more incisive attack. The BJP was quick to seize the moment - it said Mr Chidambaram should resign. "The first thing the Prime Minister should do is to order a CBI investigation into the role of the then Finance Minister, and the present Home Minister, Mr Chidambaram, in the entire 2G spectrum scandal," said the BJP's Ravishankar Prasad.
"He (Chidambram) definitely had a role and the Prime Minister must explain it," said the Left's D Raja when asked to comment about Mr Chidambaram in the light of the Finance Ministry's note.
The note from Mr Mukherjee's team suggests that even after the licenses were allocated in January 2008 at a cost of Rs 1600 crore each to companies, the guidelines allowed the government- via the Finance Ministry - four months to cancel the deals.
The document was prepared by the Deputy Director, Economic Affairs on March 25, 2011. Notings establish that before it was sent to Dr Singh's office, it was shown to Mr Mukherjee, implying that he endorsed its conclusions.
Mr Raja, who is now in jail, has repeatedly said that he had kept both the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram in the loop about his decisions on 2G spectrum. Mr Chidambaram has maintained that he tried to persuade Mr Raja on multiple occasions to opt for an auction. On January 15, five days after Mr Raja signed off on the licenses Mr Chidambaram also wrote to the PM opposing the trade of spectrum.
The government has repeatedly said that it was not the policy followed by Mr Raja but his twisted implementation to benefit certain companies that led to the scam. Different ministers have argued that they implemented the telecom policies introduced by the NDA regime which was in power at the centre till 2004.
In a controversial report submitted recently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI also said that it did not recommend that 2G airwaves be auctioned.
The government defended Mr Chidambaram. Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, "You cannot automatically drag Mr Chidambaram's name into an element of criminality and make a circus of it. That is unfair and if you start doing that nobody is safe.". He also said that a review now of an earlier decision or policy is natural. "Every time you reverse a policy that hasn't worked you can't say that the person that who had brought that policy was incompetent or that he was dishonest."
The note against Mr Chidambaram was produced in court on Wednesday by Subramanian Swamy, who is one of the main petitioners in the case on the telecom scam that is being heard by the Supreme Court. Mr Swamy has been demanding that Mr Chidambaram be charged in the CBI's case.
Dismissing Dr Swamy's charges, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The rift within our party is figment of media imagination."
But, the distrust between Mr Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram was also on public display a few months ago when it emerged that the Finance Minister had written to the PM, warning him of a possible security breach in the Finance Ministry.
In September last year, Mr Mukherjee said that offices in his ministry may have been bugged and that "planted adhesives" had been found. The fact that Mr Mukherjee did not report the matter to the Home Minister was used by the Opposition as an illustration of the "trust deficit" between senior members of the government. Mr Mukherjee later said that the adhesives were most likely chewing gum, and that no evidence of espionage had emerged.
The 14-page note, prepared by a senior bureaucrat in the Finance Ministry and sanctioned by Mr Mukherjee, suggests that Mr Chidambaram did not do enough to prevent the swindle when he was Finance Minister in 2008. The note relies heavily on technicalities, says Mr Chidambaram could have "stuck to the stand" of an auction of highly-valuable spectrum, and delivers to the Opposition the windfall of two of the government's senior-most ministers at war.
Mr Mukherjee is currently in the US. At a FICCI event in New York, when asked about the ministry's note he avoided answering and said he cannot comment as the matter is sub judice. But later at a public forum, when asked by former US diplomat about what his government was doing to fight corruption, the minister said it has taken several measures to fight the menace including enacting the Right to Information Act. He further added that it was because of an RTI application that a note which is making headlines in India was made public.
The original 2G swindle rests on how A Raja, who was Telecom Minister in 2008, chose to give away mobile network licences and accompanying second-generation or 2G frequency in 2008. Mr Raja is in jail. Among the charges against him is that he chose not to auction the spectrum, opting instead to give licences on a first-come-first-serve basis to ineligible companies. The lack of an auction, some experts say, has cost the government thousands of crores.
While the Opposition has repeatedly accused Mr Chidambaram and the Prime Minister of allowing Mr Raja to swindle uninterrupted, the fact that his own government has now faulted Mr Chidambaram allows for a more incisive attack. The BJP was quick to seize the moment - it said Mr Chidambaram should resign. "The first thing the Prime Minister should do is to order a CBI investigation into the role of the then Finance Minister, and the present Home Minister, Mr Chidambaram, in the entire 2G spectrum scandal," said the BJP's Ravishankar Prasad.
"He (Chidambram) definitely had a role and the Prime Minister must explain it," said the Left's D Raja when asked to comment about Mr Chidambaram in the light of the Finance Ministry's note.
The note from Mr Mukherjee's team suggests that even after the licenses were allocated in January 2008 at a cost of Rs 1600 crore each to companies, the guidelines allowed the government- via the Finance Ministry - four months to cancel the deals.
The document was prepared by the Deputy Director, Economic Affairs on March 25, 2011. Notings establish that before it was sent to Dr Singh's office, it was shown to Mr Mukherjee, implying that he endorsed its conclusions.
Mr Raja, who is now in jail, has repeatedly said that he had kept both the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram in the loop about his decisions on 2G spectrum. Mr Chidambaram has maintained that he tried to persuade Mr Raja on multiple occasions to opt for an auction. On January 15, five days after Mr Raja signed off on the licenses Mr Chidambaram also wrote to the PM opposing the trade of spectrum.
The government has repeatedly said that it was not the policy followed by Mr Raja but his twisted implementation to benefit certain companies that led to the scam. Different ministers have argued that they implemented the telecom policies introduced by the NDA regime which was in power at the centre till 2004.
In a controversial report submitted recently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI also said that it did not recommend that 2G airwaves be auctioned.
The government defended Mr Chidambaram. Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, "You cannot automatically drag Mr Chidambaram's name into an element of criminality and make a circus of it. That is unfair and if you start doing that nobody is safe.". He also said that a review now of an earlier decision or policy is natural. "Every time you reverse a policy that hasn't worked you can't say that the person that who had brought that policy was incompetent or that he was dishonest."
The note against Mr Chidambaram was produced in court on Wednesday by Subramanian Swamy, who is one of the main petitioners in the case on the telecom scam that is being heard by the Supreme Court. Mr Swamy has been demanding that Mr Chidambaram be charged in the CBI's case.
Dismissing Dr Swamy's charges, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The rift within our party is figment of media imagination."
But, the distrust between Mr Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram was also on public display a few months ago when it emerged that the Finance Minister had written to the PM, warning him of a possible security breach in the Finance Ministry.
In September last year, Mr Mukherjee said that offices in his ministry may have been bugged and that "planted adhesives" had been found. The fact that Mr Mukherjee did not report the matter to the Home Minister was used by the Opposition as an illustration of the "trust deficit" between senior members of the government. Mr Mukherjee later said that the adhesives were most likely chewing gum, and that no evidence of espionage had emerged.
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