New Delhi:
As Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh get set to meet in New York amid a raging controversy over the Finance Ministry's note to the Prime Minister's Office on the 2G scam, the war of words between the Congress and the BJP has intensified. Former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has called for Home Minister P Chidambaram to be sent to jail. He also wants the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to interrogate Mr Chidambaram.
''Chidambaram belongs in Tihar jail, he belongs to the same cell where Raja is,'' Mr Sinha said.
The controversy surrounding Mr Chidambaram, stems from a note by the Finance Ministry, written in March this year, questioning his actions when the telecom scam was playing out in 2008. It suggests that Mr Chidambaram, who was then Finance Minister, should have done more to ensure that spectrum was not given at throwaway rates to companies that were being favoured by A Raja, who was then Telecom Minister and is now in jail.
The senior BJP leader also demanded that the Prime Minister should be brought under the scanner, a day after Dr Manmohan Singh said he fully backed Mr Chidambaram who "continues to enjoy and inspire my full confidence".
"The Prime Minister knows if the scam touches Chidambaram, it will also bring him under the scanner. The Prime Minister has shown complicity. The CBI should interrogate Chidambaram, and the Prime Minister as well," Mr Sinha said.
He also claims that in contrast to the government, the BJP's own telecom policy was transparent, during the NDA regime.
"I would like to say, whatever happened during our regime, the telecom policy has never been so transparent during any other government," he added.
The Congress was quick to hit back. Condemning the statement by Mr Sinha, outspoken Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said Mr Chidambaram is a man of integrity and competence.
"There is no question of any charges against him. What is being interpreted by the media on a factual note given by the Finance Ministry to the Cabinet Secretary and the PMO, doesn't in any case indebts the Finance Minister," said Mr Singh.
"If the BJP is talking about revenue loss, then they should be charged first because they changed the policy of open tendering adopted by Narasimha Rao's government in awarding licenses by changing it into a license fee and a revenue sharing model. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has already reported on that decision and quantified the loss incurred by the government of India by change of policy made by the NDA government. Should they not be charged also? Should they not be in Tihar also by the same logic? I think it is unjustified and incorrect to unnecessarily charge Chidambaram in this case," he added.