By IANS,
Chennai : Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy Tuesday reiterated his charge that the pricing of second generation (2G) telecom spectrum at 2001 rates was decided jointly by the then finance minister P. Chidambaram and jailed former telecom minister A. Raja in 2008.
Swamy also released a set of documents pertaining to the finance ministry which, he claimed, showed that Chidambaram and Raja had discussed the spectrum usage charge and also the pricing of 3G spectrum.
Talking to reporters here, Swamy said the two met four times in 2008 (January 30, April 9, May 29 and June 12) to decide the pricing and allocation of 2G and 3G spectrum.
Chidambaram is as responsible as Raja for 2G spectrum pricing, Swamy said.
Swamy is arguing a case to implicate Chidambaram, who now heads the home ministry, in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam.
Swamy said the Rs.1,650 crore base price of the 2G spectrum for pan-India operations was a joint decision of Chidambaram and Raja.
The rate was determined in 2003-04 adopting the 2001 pricing of the spectrum followed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General says that by not auctioning 2G spectrum and allocating it on a first-come-first-served basis, Raja caused the exchequer a presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore.