New Delhi:
The rancor over Murli Manohar Joshi's report on the 2G scam is causing a political meltdown. Today, Mr Chidambaram has accused Mr Joshi of "gross distortion" in the section that dissects Mr Chidambaram's role. (
Read: Chidambaram's complete rebuttal here) "Even a person of average intelligence," Mr Chidambaram charges, should be able to spot what Mr Joshi has incorrectly stated.
As Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Joshi drafted a report on the telecom scam and faulted, among others, the Prime Minister, his office, and Mr P Chidambaram who was Finance Minister in 2008 when the scam was executed, allegedly by A Raja as Telecom Minister. Mr Raja is now in jail for servicing companies who allegedly bribed him handsomely for licenses and spectrum at clearance prices.
At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee yesterday, 11 of the 21 members, most of them from the Congress and DMK, voted against Mr Joshi's report. Mr Joshi, who is one of the Opposition BJP's most senior leaders, stormed out of the meeting. He says he had adjourned the meeting before the vote took place - so the report has not been rejected. The government believes that it has. The Speaker, Meira Kumar, is likely to play a crucial role in deciding who's correct.
Mr Chidambaram, who is now Home Minister, says that a letter written by him to the Prime Minister in January 2008, after telecom licenses were allotted, has been deliberately taken out of context by Mr Joshi. The report prepared by Mr Joshi faults Mr Chidambaram for asking the Prime Minister to "treat the matter as closed" - Mr Joshi says this is an example of the "multiple systematic failure" that allowed a "nefarious" Mr Raja to execute his scam. Mr Joshi says too many parts of the government looked away when Mr Raja had his hand in the cookie jar.
Not true, says Mr Chidambaram, alleging that "even a person with average intelligence" would have noticed that his letter referred not to the "entry fee" or what companies had to pay to enter the market, but to usage charges for spectrum. It is the entry fee - of 1600 crores per operator in 2008-that has shocked experts, mainly because that was the rate decided upon in 2001.
The term of the current Public Accounts Committee expires Saturday. Mr Joshi is meant to Chair the new committee as well.