Chidambaram's comment on 2G scam 'matter of grave concern': BJP

Asserting that P. Chidambaram's comment on the 2G scam is a matter of 'grave concern', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday alleged that the former finance minister's remark proved that the Congress party had tried to hide its errors.

"What Mr. P. Chidambaram is saying is a matter of great concern. When the former finance minister said that the then Congress government had committed mistakes, it only points to the fact that the Congress had tried to hide its errors," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI here.

"But the people of India could see through it and that's why they were defeated in the 2014 elections," he added.

Patra further said that Chidambaram's comment stood at odds with the then Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sabil's statement that there had been 'zero loss' in the 2G scam.

Congress leader Manish Tewari, however, sought to downplay the statement by saying that Chidambaram's comment should be looked at in a different perspective.

"You need to look at the issue in a perspective. On October 18, 2007, when the then Telecommunications Regulatory Authority chairperson, who is now the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, made a recommendation that the licenses with bundled spectrum should be given at 2001 prices. And subsequently when those recommendations were accepted by the telecom commissions and licenses were distributed, there was an inflection point when reports had emerged in the public space with regard to the process by which the licenses were granted," said Tewari.

Chidambaram had last evening said that the mishandling of the 2G scam hurt the Congress party in the Lok Sabha elections.

The former union minister, who was responding to a question at a discussion during a book launch function in New Delhi, said the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh should have put his foot down without waiting for the Supreme Court order. He added that the issue of 2G licence could have been handled differently.