In a fresh attack on Union Telecom Minister A Raja for the 2G spectrum scam, the Bhartiya Janata Party alleged a "grand cover-up plan" hatched in the law ministry to bail him out in the Supreme Court hearing on Monday.
The meeting convened by a ministry official and attended among others by Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, Central Bureau of Investigation investigating officer Vivek Priyadarshi and Anti-Corruption Bureau DIG Palsania as also Raja's counsel Anita Shenoy to formulate "unified strategy" amounts to contempt of court, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar asserted in press briefing at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
He said such a high profile meeting couldn't take place without the directive from the higher up, notwithstanding the transfer of the officer who convened it in the face of leakage of its news. Such a meeting is totally unethical as it is a clear proof of the government's cover-up plan, Javdekar said.
Javadekar said the clinching evidence of Raja's obsession from day one to distribute 500 mobile phone licences and make money, caring hoots to the spectrum or airways availability, procedure and applicants' competent has also emerged now from the revelations for the first time by D S Mathur, a former secretary of the Department of Telecom, in an interview from Bhopal on Saturday.
"The damning interview shows how Raja resisted all along the public auction of the spectrum and distributed licences in 'private' auction to earn money. Even his disregard to formulate a policy to determine competent applicants also proves that the allotment was a pre-meditated conspiracy," Javadekar asserted.
Even non-cancellation of the licences for not starting operations within stipulated time explains the government's patronage to Raja's efforts, he said.
On Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh keeping mum by declining to comment on the 2G spectrum scam, Javdekar wondered how he can still claim to have a clean image while not taking a stand on the scams.
Javadekar said it was, therefore, now the time to ask Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her general secretary son Rahul Gandhi to take the stand. They should not forget that nobody can fool the people all the time by keeping mum, he added.
