New Delhi:
BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has demanded that the Prime Minister explain charges levelled against him by former Telecom Minister
A Raja. Accused of masterminding one of India's biggest swindles, centred on mobile network licenses and accompanying second-generation (2G) airwaves, Mr Raja has alleged that the PM sanctioned all his policies.
"Your silence will confirm... that you were fully involved in the 2G scam and if Sri Raja is guilty, so are you," Mr Sinha has written in his third letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, asking him to testify for a parliamentary committee that is conducting a post-mortem of the scam.
(Read full text of letter here)The Joint Parliamentary Committee or JPC, headed by Congressman P C Chacko, meets tomorrow amid deep dissent. Law-makers from the Opposition on the 30-member committee say Mr Chacko has ignored their objections and absolved the PM and Finance Minister P Chidambaram of any role in the 2G scam. In a controversial report, Mr Chacko has concluded that Mr Raja "misled" the Prime Minister. The Opposition wants to vote against the report. The Congress will try to win the vote so that the document is accepted with dissenting notes from the Opposition.
Members of the Left and the BJP on the committee say it's grossly incorrect that Mr Raja has been denied permission by Mr Chacko to testify for the committee. Earlier this week, Mr Raja, who belongs to the DMK, sent a detailed note to the JPC, alleging that the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram were kept informed orally and in writing of all his actions, including tweaking a first-come-first-serve policy in 2008, to decide which companies would get licenses.