Govt. will give appropriate response to SC’s observation on 2G scam: Congress

NEW DELHI - Congress on Wednesday said the government will give an appropriate response to the Supreme Court’s observation over the delay in Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s response to a plea seeking prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation issue.

“The Supreme Court has asked the government a question and the government will give an appropriate response tomorrow,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari in reply to a specific query on the apex court’s observations.

Tewari, however, said it would be inappropriate and uncalled for to ’second guess anything’ on this issue.

“The Prime Minister has taken action. It is wrong to say he has not acted. Even before the CAG report was tabled in Parliament, it was the Prime Minister who secured the resignation of the Telecom Minister,” he said asserting that Prime Minister did take action by securing Telecom Minister A Raja’s resignation before the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report was tabled in Parliament.

Manish Tewari further accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having double standards on corruption and said the main Opposition party in Karnataka should ask Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to tender his resignation in the wake of a controversy surrounding allocation of land to his sons.

The Congress spokesperson further praising former Communications Minister Arun Shourie supported his contention that there was no need for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G spectrum allocation issue.

Earlier today, senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani demanded that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh should immediately respond to apex court’s remarks about the 11-month long-silence and inaction in responding to a plea for prosecution of A. Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

“Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on spectrum was made public, though we were aware of the issue earlier, but the report was formally presented yesterday in Parliament. On the same day, the Supreme Court made serious comments on the Prime Minister and the PMO. I cannot recall that in the last 60 years the Supreme Court has ever commented on Prime Minister’s Office,” said Advani.

“The Prime Minister should immediately respond to what the Supreme Court has said on Raja issue. We are demanding a JPC probe into the issue in Parliament and the government should think on it. Corruption should be eliminated from the country,” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, the apex court asked the Government to explain why the Prime Minister took eleven months in taking a decision on a plea for sanction of prosecution of the former Telecom Minister in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation issue.

“Can the sanctioning authority (Prime Minister in this case) sit on the complaint,” said an apex court bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly on hearing a petition filed by Janata Party President and former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy, who had sought sanction for the prosecution of Raja.

Raja was forced to resign on Sunday night under considerable pressure from the Congress, which has been attacked in Parliament by a united Opposition for corruption. (ANI)