Kolkata, Nov 18: Accusing the Congress-led central government of “deliberately manipulating” the recent auction of 2G spectrum which yielded barely a third of the amount that was expected, the BJP on Sunday demanded a probe into it.
“There is a distinct possibility that this auction was deliberately manipulated. Through this auction the government wants to prove the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) wrong. Careful investigation must be made about this entire auction,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi said here.
The recently concluded auction, which lasted just two days, got total bids worth Rs.9,407.64 crore, just one-third of the minimum Rs.28,000 crore the government was expecting. The auction was a far cry from the 35-day bidding for the 3G spectrum in 2010 that got Rs.67,719 crore.
Following the flopped auction, the Congress went on the offensive against CAG Vinod Rai demanding “a comprehensive overhaul of CAG's calculation of presumptive loss figures”.
The CAG in 2010 said that the then telecom minister A. Raja's decision to give away spectrum at rates fixed in 2001 had caused a presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Dr. Joshi also attacked the government for openly criticising the supreme auditor and dared the Congress to bring in an impeachment motion against the CAG.
“It is unconstitutional to criticise the CAG either publicly or in private. By criticising a constitutional body, they are insulting the constitution. If they have the facts then why don't they bring in an impeachment motion and get him removed,” said Dr. Joshi.
Continuing his attack, he said: “The government has been a complete failure. It has lost the mandate to govern the country. Bad days are ahead.”
