Baijal trying to shield himself from CBI: Congress

The party lashes out at Baijal, questioning his credibility

In response to allegations by Pradip Baijal, former chief of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), that then prime minister Manmohan Singh had warned him of harm if he didn't cooperate on 2G telecom licences, the Congress on Tuesday lashed out at Baijal, questioning his credibility. Congress alleged Baijal was trying to "shield" himself from CBI as he himself was an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case and the timing of Baijal's charges, coinciding with the one year of the Modi led government was "suspect".

Congress Communication chief Randeep Surjewala stoutly refuted Baijal's charges labelling them "imaginary, false and baseless". Besides, he said it was Baijal who had evolved the 'first come, first served' norm. Surjewala highlighted that Baijal was also an accused for fraud and cheating in a case filed by CBI against him in 2014 dating back to the time he was Disinvestment Secretary when Arun Shourie was the Disinvestment Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

Surjewala made it a point to mention that post retirement, Baijal had also served as a director in the firm of controversial Niira Radia, who had only recently been given clean chit by the CBI.

Surjewala wondered aloud if Arun Shourie, was next in the line of fire for speaking disapprovingly of the Modi government.

In his book, The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power and Private Enterprise - A Practitioner's Diary , Baijal has alleged the 2G scam trail began under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Maran was telecom minister from 2004 to 2007.

Baijal has stated the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wanted him to "implicate" Arun Shourie and Ratan Tata in the case.

Baijal, a retired Indian Administrative Service officer, is an accused in the 2G telecom spectrum case. He served as disinvestment secretary during the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, with Shourie as his minister. Upon retirement, he was appointed head of the telecom watchdog in 2003, in which capacity he continued until 2006. Misra, principal secretary to the PM, succeeded Baijal as Trai chief.

Senior Union government ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders said Baijal's book was another proof that the government run by the UPA was scam-ridden. "It was a coalition in corruption," said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the revelations reflected the functioning of the UPA government, in which every minister thought of himself as PM. "If ministers are threatening senior bureaucrats, if the PM is looking the other way, it is a very serious problem. Today, I can proudly say my prime minister, Narendra Modi, knows everything that's happening in the government,", Prasad said, adding it was difficult to believe Singh was unaware of what was happening. "Sad days, sad times," he added.

Party spokesperson M J Akbar said the revelations underscored what the PM had said in a rally in Mathura on Monday, that the NDA had "rescued" the country from scamsters. Akbar said Singh was known to be a decent man, but at whose behest he took these decisions and whether he was protecting Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul should be questioned.

At the end of August last year, the CBI named Baijal in a first information report related to the disinvestment of Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur. In his defence, Baijal claimed the sale of the hotel was carried out according to rules. "In each case, they (the CBI) had warned me I would be harmed if I didn't cooperate. Incidentally, this was exactly what the eminent economist prime minister (Singh) had told me would happen if I did not cooperate in their scheme of things in the 2G case," Baijal writes in an apparent reference to the 2G spectrum allocation and disinvestment issues.

He adds Maran knew about the discussions between him and Singh. "I can only surmise that they were all working in tandem, possibly along with the PM, Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, at different stages, and were guiding the CBI inquiry, getting files removed and making false statements in the media to make a case against the erstwhile Trai." Baijal has alleged in 2004, Ratan Tata informed him "he was being threatened by Dayanidhi Maran that unless he accepted the merger of Tata Sky with Sun TV, he would ruin him. Ratan Tata refused to cooperate…They would alternatively threaten to harm me and my family and then dangle a carrot of sparing me if I implicated Ratan Tata and Arun Shourie".

"Had I cooperated with Dayanidhi Maran and the PM, I would have been in jail today, held guilty for the 2G scam," he added. Baijal has said both Maran and his successor, A Raja, suppressed his recommendations and sold spectrum to "a select few without following any rules or procedures".