Where is Lokpal, where are anti-corruption crusaders, asks Congress

With the court acquitting all the accused in the 2G spectrum case, the Congress on Thursday asked as to why the Narendra Modi government has not appointed a Lokpal as it had been demanding during the anti-corruption campaign against the then UPA government.

Terming the alleged loss of Rs 1.77 lakh crore to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum allocation as "perceptive" and "manufactured", Congress leader Anand Sharma demanded to know the quantum of "actual loss" to the country's GDP due to demonetisation.

"A vicious and malicious campaign was launched against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. It was a presumptive loss to exchequer. What about the actual loss of three lakh crore rupees to the economy by a personal decision of note-ban that sheared the GDP by two per cent," he said.

A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted all the accused including DMK leaders -- former Telecom Minister A. Raja and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi -- in the alleged multi-thousand crore rupee 2G spectrum scandal in which there were claims it caused the state exchequer a loss of Rs 1,76,379 crore.

Sharma said that the Lokpal legislation was passed by the UPA but three and a half years after Narendra Modi government came to power, there is "no sign of a Lokpal".

"Where is Lokpal, and where are those anti-corruption crusaders now?" he said.

Sharma also targeted former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai in whose term the alleged scam came to fore, alleging that he is being "amply rewarded" by the BJP government.

Congress MP Vivek Tankha said that normally the CAG report must first come to the Lok Sabha and then it should go to the Public Accounts Committee, but it was leaked to the media before it was tabled.

"We don't know how it got leaked but it caused huge FDI (foreign direct investment) loss," he said.

Sharma said that the Supreme Court's decision to cancel the licences of some of the firms do not mean indictment by the apex court as it referred the matter to a trial court to decide if there actually was any criminality.

"The then UPA government received notices from the companies and foreign governments to take the matter to the International Court after their allocations were cancelled and they suffered huge losses. Also, India's image as an investment destination took a severe beating," Sharma said.

He said it was a "huge conspiracy" against the UPA government and the biggest gainer of it is the BJP.

--IANS

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