BJP says PAC probe points to role of PM, Chidambaram

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is directly culpable in the telecom spectrum allocation scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged today, adding the PM was aware of almost all the decisions taken by former telecom minister A Raja, now in jail.

This is the first time the PM has been attacked so directly, possibly in retaliation for the criticism of Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, a BJP veteran, yesterday.

Senior leaders of the BJP blamed the PM and P Chidambaram, the then finance minister, for not doing their constitutional duty and becoming part of the scam. Though the BJP leaders in the PAC and party want the draft report -- rejected by pro-government members on the PAC, in a slight majority on the panel -- to be given by Joshi to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, a final decision would be taken after Joshi meets L K Advani, the seniormost party leader.

“I charge the Prime Minister with direct complicity, the finance minister with direct complicity and not doing their constitutional duty and became part of the scam. The PM was aware of nine-and-a-half decisions taken by A Raja. The PM was in the know of the decisions. What can be more scandalous? What happened at the PAC meeting on Thursday was an attempt to cover up the scam by members of the Congress Party and DMK,” said Yashwant Sinha, a PAC member from the BJP.

Adding: “It is not a report by an individual but by the PAC. It should get the importance it deserves and we want the report to be submitted. There are documents and oral evidence on the scam.”

Sources in the PAC said BJP members have asked for three amendments in the draft PAC report. “The first amendment is on a clerical error. We had demanded an amendment soon after we noticed it. The same mistake is not in the report in Hindi but the Congress Party members and DMK leaders are making allegations of a conspiracy. We have also demanded an investigation on how the draft report was leaked to the media. The other two amendments are on the role of P Chidambaram. The draft report didn’t do justice to the magnum of offence he was involved in. To some extent, he was more involved than the Prime Minister himself,” said a PAC member.