By IANS,
Kolkata : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should break his silence on the 2G and S-band spectrum controversies as well as on inflation and black money when he addresses the media on Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Tuesday here.
Manmohan Singh will meet TV editors at his official 7 Race Course residence Wednesday morning, ahead of the budget session of parliament beginning next week.
“We certainly expect him to talk on the three issues (2G, S-band and inflation)…,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said here. She added that he should also give his views on black money that was playing havoc with the economy.
“Does the government have any intention to tackle it?” she asked.
“The party (BJP) holds the UPA (United Progressive Alliance)-led government completely responsible for the current state of affairs in the country. Scams are continuing unabated.
“Inflation has been beyond control for the past two years,” she said, adding there was a “total lack of governance”.
She said the issue of India’s space agency being involved in the S-band spectrum controversy was important as it related to the country’s security. “Why was there no proper process (in allocation)? That is something which we want the PM to address,” she said.
“We also want a statement from the prime minister on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-Devas deal,” Sitharaman said.
The prime minister has formed a two-member commission to probe allegations of revenue losses in the allocation of space spectrum using S-band – high value and scarce radio waves – by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation to a private company, Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd.
The BJP spokesperson said the prime minister had remained “quiet” on the 2G spectrum allocation scam for the last one and a half years.
“We have not heard him at all,” she said.
“We have taken a resolution for demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in all the issues of the scam.
She also queried as to why India had not signed the United Nations convention on corruption, which would allow the government to access overseas accounts of Indians.
Sitharaman added that there was no coherent view from the prime minister on measures taken to fight inflation.