New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has reserved its order on whether Home Minister P Chidambram should be investigated in connection with the telecom scam that unfolded in 2008. At the time, Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister.
The telecom scam was allegedly masterminded by A Raja, while he was Telecom Minister. Ignoring advice from multiple departments and ministries, Mr Raja decided not to auction second-generation or 2G spectrum. Instead, the precious resource was bundled into licenses which Mr Raja sold at a pittance to companies who were reportedly ineligible for them.
Mr Raja has been in jail since February.
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy wants Mr Chidambaram to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to reign in Mr Raja. The CBI has, in the past, objected to this, stating that there is nothing to suggest that Mr Chidambaram could have acted differently, and that it is incorrect to single out a minister as culpable for Mr Raja's actions. Mr Chidambaram's party, the Congress, has also defended him staunchly.
Its support for Mr Chidambaram had to be considerably stepped up after a letter surfaced that was prepared by the Finance Ministry earlier this year. The note suggested that Mr Chidambaram could have enforced an auction of 2G spectrum. The fact that a section of his own government had faulted the minister led to a deafening demand for his resignation from opposition parties, led by the BJP. The politically-toxic note was also hailed as an expression of the mistrust between Mr Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, the Finance Minister. After a week of an alleged civil war within the government, at a joint press conference, Mr Chidambaram and Mr Mukherjee appeared together. The Finance Minister said the note was prepared with inputs from different ministries; he did not agree with all its inferences, he said. Mr Chidambaram then said he "accepted" that statement.
The Opposition has however said the letter and its contents cannot be treated as an internal matter of the Congress.