By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s observation about widening the ambit of the probe into the 2G spectrum controversy to decisions taken since 2001, saying this would nail the “nepotism and corruption” of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The court observed that investigations into the telecom related matters should go back to 2001. We welcome the observation. The investigation (since) 2001 will nail the nepotism and corruption of the NDA specially the BJP,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.
He alleged that the BJP and some other opposition parties had stalled parliament for the past 18 days to prevent a debate on the spectrum controversy.
“Those who have held parliament to ransom for weeks did so because they knew a debate will expose them,” Tewari said.
He said that the party had “a lot of material” and was waiting for a debate.
Tewari said since “the house has been subverted”, he was putting out “the facts”.
He alleged that the change of terms of contract in 1999 by the telecom ministry led to a loss of Rs.60,00 crore and in 2002, the then telecom minister decided to allocate extra spectrum to the existing operators. “Why was it not auctioned,” he asked.
He added that the licence fee of telecom operators was reduced in 2004.