M A I N   N E W S

PM breaks silence on scams
Exonerates himself from any wrongdoing in ISRO-Devas agreement
Anita Katyal
Our Political Correspondent

Manmohanspeak

Govt’s negative perceptions Whatever some people may say, that we are a lame duck government, that I am a lame duck Prime Minister, we take our job very seriously, we are here to govern, and to govern effectively, tackle the problems as they arise and get this country moving forward. An impression has gone round that we are a scam-driven country and nothing good is happening in our country, that we are weakening the self-confidence of the people of India. I do not think that is in the interest of anyone in our country. Rumours of resignation Things are not entirely the way I would like them to be but quite frankly I never felt like resigning because I have a job to do. Role in telecom scandal As far as who gets licences, the first-come-first-served policy, how it is implemented, that was never discussed with me. Licences were not a matter whichever got referred to me or the Cabinet. That was a decision exclusively of the Telecom Ministry. Raja’s appointment In a coalition government, you can suggest your preferences but you have to go by what the leader of that coalition partner ultimately insists. Raja... was the DMK choice and at that moment, I had no reason frankly speaking that anything seriously wrong had been done. Next Parliament session I am not afraid of appearing before any committee, including a JPC. And this is an entirely wrong impression that I was the one blocking the agreement on a JPC.

New Delhi, February 16
With the UPA government’s image tarnished by a series of scams and scandals, an embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today broke his long spell of silence in an effort to put the record straight on allegations that are being flung at him and the ruling dispensation.

In a 70-minute televised media interaction with editors of TV news channels organised at his residence this morning, the Prime Minister exonerated himself from any wrongdoing in the ISRO-Devas agreement, shrugged off his involvement in the policy adopted for 2G Spectrum allocation and instead suggested that the Finance Ministry had supported former Telecom Minister A. Raja's decision to reject his proposal to go in for the auction route.

Striking a defensive note during the question-answer session, the Prime Minister spoke repeatedly of “coalition compulsions” which “held him back from taking tough decisions”, blamed the Opposition for not allowing Parliament to function and even put the media in the dock for its excessive obsession with the negative. This, he said, had sapped the country's self-confidence.

Despite the trial and tribulations he was facing, Manmohan Singh said he had never thought of quitting. "I have a job to do. I never thought of giving up half-way," he said firmly.

Though he replied to a range of questions on issues plaguing his government, the primary focus was on the allegations of corruption, which have eroded the UPA government's credibility and hit the Prime Minister personally, who is increasingly being perceived as a leader who lacks control over his ministers.

His helplessness was evident in his reply to a question on why Raja was re-inducted as Telecom Minister in 2009 despite the raging corruption charges, which had surfaced against him during the previous regime. Reiterating that theirs is a coalition government, the Prime Minister underlined that he had no say in the choice of ministers selected by the alliance partner.

He said though he had received complaints about 2G Spectrum allocation, there was no overwhelming evidence against Raja when UPA-II was sworn in last year. “I had no reason to feel that anything seriously wrong had been done or that I had the authority to object to Raja's induction. Complaints were coming from all sides — from companies, which had not benefited. I was not in a position to make up my mind if anything was seriously wrong,” the Prime Minister pointed out.

Providing details on 2G Spectrum allocation, Manmohan Singh said he had written to Raja on November 2, 2007, expressing his concerns over complaints in this regard, asked the minister to look into it in a fair and transparent manner and suggested that he should adopt the auction route instead of the existing first-come-first-serve policy. Raja, he said, responded by saying that he had been fair and transparent in his dealings. "He assured me that nothing wrong will happen," the Prime Minister said.

He said Raja did not agree that auction was the way forward for the 2G Spectrum. "He was clear that he should stay with the existing approach," the Prime Minister explained. In this, he had the support of the Telecom Commission, the TRAI and the Finance Ministry. Since he was overruled on this issue by the Finance Ministry and experts who felt otherwise, the Prime Minister said, he did not insist on a change in policy and decided not to intervene in the matter.

The Prime Minister also lent strength to the public perception that individual ministers were acting on their own without consulting the Cabinet. Referring to the allocation of Spectrum to particular companies, the Prime Minister maintained that having taken a policy decision, "the issue of who gets Spectrum and how the policy was implemented was never brought to him or the Cabinet".

Though the Prime Minister did not take on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) frontally, he disagreed with the watchdog's calculation on the loss incurred in the 2G Spectrum scam, stating that CAG itself had called it a presumptive loss. Stating that there were various methods of computing the figures, he cited examples of the Rs 80,000-crore amount being spent on foodgrain subsidy and Rs 60,000 crore on fertilisers and subsidy on kerosene, wondering if these could be dubbed as losses.

Media interaction a cover-up, says Gadkari
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service