By IANS,
Lucknow : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must learn from his mistakes and break his silence over graft charges against central minister Dayanidhi Maran, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Thursday.
“Manmohan Singh has not spoken (over the issue) for last three days… we have been asking him to speak… Please learn from your mistakes,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here, citing the example of former communications minister A. Raja, who is in jail in the 2G spectrum case.
“It’s (Aircel-Maxis deal) a case of bribery and quid pro quo. Prime minister must take a fair action, else the citizens of the country will be compelled to draw an inference against him,” added Prasad, who arrived here to participate in the party’s national executive meet beginning Friday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the role of Maran, who was the communications and IT minister from May 26, 2004 to May 14, 2007, in the allocation of telecom licences.
Maran is accused of blocking for two years Aircel’s application for licence and spectrum with a view to pressurise its promoter C. Sivasankaran to strike a deal with Maxis, a Malaysian telecom firm controlled by T. Anandakrishnan, that bought stakes in Aircel later in March 2006.
It is also alleged that Aircel’s file gained momentum only after Maxis, close to the Maran family, bought majority stakes in it.
The Maran family-owned Sun Network later attracted a huge investment to the tune of Rs.700 crore from the Malaysian firm.