By IANS,
Lucknow : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given the DMK “full freedom” to “loot the country” as a part of “the deal with the Congress over the pricing of 2G spectrum”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said here Friday while referring to the spectrum scam that led to DMK MP A. Raja resigning as communications minister.
“As a part of the deal, (Dyanidhi) Maran wrote a letter to the prime minister and said that all the terms of references related to the 2G spectrum are acceptable to the DMK and that the pricing issue related to the spectrum would be decided only by our minister,” Gadkari told reporters on the sidelines of a convention here.
“In response to the letter, objections were even raised by the then finance secretary…But, the then cabinet secretary in his letter clearly said that the pricing aspect would be the domain of DMK as per the instructions of the prime minister. PM ne DMK ko desh ko lootne ki puri azaadi di (PM gave the DM full freedom to loot the country),” he added.
Gadkari is in Lucknow to attend the two-day national convention on urban good governance.
Describing it as “very unfortunate on the part of the prime minister”, the BJP president referred to a news report and said that all the documents related to the deal are already in possession of a private news channel.
“It was initially decided that the pricing would be the task of the group of ministers (GoM) but as per a deal it was given to the DMK, resulting in a scam of Rs.176,000 crore (Rs.1.76 trillion), said Gadkari.
“If the prime minister and the Congress had not struck the deal with DMK, one of the biggest scams of the country would have surely not taken place,” he added.
Asked if Manmohan Singh should own moral responsibility for the scam and resign, Gadkari said: “We have been demanding a JPC (joint parliamentary committee) enquiry into the matter. The parliamentary forum is the highest democratic forum in the country. Let the enquiry take place.”
“It is the right of the people of India to understand the truth behind the issue. Let the enquiry take place.”
Asked if the BJP’s Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa would also be asked to quit over allegations of land grabbing, Gadkari said: “No comment.”