New Delhi:
Congressman PC Chacko is under attack for absolving the Prime Minister and Finance minister P Chidambram of any role in the telecom scam. As head of a parliamentary committee that studied the swindle, Mr Chacko has been accused by the opposition of engineering "a Congress document" that saves his own leaders and indicts former Telecom Minister
A Raja for twisting a first-come-first-serve policy to help ineligible companies land sweetheart deals for mobile network licenses and second-generation or 2G airwaves.
"Mr Raja would be the happiest person if he read the report," said Mr Chacko today, a baffling declaration given that Mr Raja has rejected the report. The former minister reiterated today that he kept the Prime Minister updated on his policies, and that if a scam did indeed take place, then Dr Manmohan Singh is equally accountable, an opinion the opposition shares.
Mr Chacko has been castigated by the BJP, the Left and Mr Raja for refusing to let the former minister testify for the joint parliamentary committee. The opposition members of the 30-member committee have also said they will formally record their dissent against the 2G report when the panel meets on April 25.
Mr Raja belongs to the Tamil Nadu party, the DMK, which quit the government last month, leaving the PM's minority government even more vulnerable and dependent on Mulayam Singh Yadav, an unreliable ally who has lately been attacking the Congress-led coalition on a variety of fronts.
Mr Raja spent nearly a year in jail on charges that he masterminded the 2G scam and accepted kickbacks. He is on bail and is being tried for corruption in a Delhi court. His party has stood by him, expressing its confidence in his innocence.