New Delhi: It was almost four years ago that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said at the AICC plenary session: "I sincerely believe that like Caesar's wife, the prime minister should be above suspicion and it is for this reason that I am prepared to appear before the PAC even though there is no precedent to that effect."
This was the time when the PM offered to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) if required, and by making that offer he had almost earned a clean chit. But the dark clouds are back, in the form of direct allegations from the former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Vinod Rai. The latter has claimed that Manmohan Singh knew what was happening during the controversial allocation of the 2G spectrum and yet did nothing.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. AP image
Singh, in the past, has spoken about the ‘compulsions of coalition politics’ too. It was said in a different context, yet it remains valid for all transactions, political or otherwise, during the UPA II. It made serious compromises on matters of principle and committed serious breaches of propriety to stay in power. The question is was the prime minister solely responsible for what was happening under his nose? Under the division of power arrangement between him and Sonia Gandhi, he was in charge of the government while she, as the UPA chairperson, managed the coalition partners. Since some of the major issues of corruption involved the coalition partners, can she be beyond scrutiny for long?
Rai claims that the then Telecom Minister A Raja of the DMK had kept the Prime Minister in the loop during the course of action of allocating 2G spectrum. He talks of two letters written by Raja to Manmohan Singh during November and December 2007 reveals all about how he intended to go about the bidding process. The CAG has claimed that the government lost almost a presumptive amount of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to this plan.
"There were some irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation, for which A Raja was in jail. PM didn't protect Raja," defended PC Chacko, senior Congress leader who was also the Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that probed the 2G spectrum case. "UPA government simply followed the policy which was used by the previous NDA government," he added.
Though many like Rai believe that Manmohan Singh was under tremendous pressure from UPA allies, it is becoming clear that that something was amiss at the PM’s end during the entire course of this allocation procedure.
In such a scenario, the extent of Rai’s claims goes beyond just the prime minister himself. The opposition maintains that the entire senior Congress leadership was aware of this as well. Confusion has again taken over the Congress party, while Chacko was busy defending Manmohan, another senior leader took a different view.
"I did write a letter to the prime minister saying that there are some matters of concern, I also asked for a committee to be appointed in the same letter," reveals Kamal Nath who was a senior member of Manmohan Singh cabinet.
Rai also claims that senior Congress leaders like former minister Ashwini Kumar, Sanjay Nirupam and Sandeep Dikshit tried to convince him to keep Manmohan’s name out of the entire issue. Though Nirupam has denied the charge and Sandeep was not available for a comment, this has again put the former PM in the dock, and he still chooses to do what he does best: remain silent.
But the question again arises, what does he gain by keeping mum on such a sensitive issue where his entire credibility is at stake? Is he taking the flak for someone else, and happy to play the role of the "fall guy"? And till the eerie silence remains, fingers will keep pointing in more directions than just the former prime minister.
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