New Delhi: Buoyed by the trial court verdict, Congress on Saturday said the matter regarding home minister P Chidambaram’s alleged involvement in 2G scam should be allowed to rest and asked the BJP to apologize to the nation for the “vilification” campaign.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said BJP owes an “apology” to the nation for the “campaign of calumny, vilification and innuendo” in the matter.

“Now that both courts have spoken, the Supreme Court and the trial court on substantively the same issue, the matter should be allowed to rest,” Tewari said when asked whether Congress considers that the trial court order has given a clean chit to Chidambaram, the former finance minister.

Attacking BJP and other Opposition parties over the issue, he said,“ Political parties especially the BJP, owe an apology to the nation for the unlimiting campaign of calumny, vilification and innuendo, which they have carried out over the past one year.”

Tewari also rejected contentions that the party should take moral responsibility for the handling of 2G allocation.

“There is nothing at all, which the government has to be ashamed of. There is nothing for which we have to take moral responsibililty...If at all there has been an indictment, it has been of the process.

“In so far as policy is concerned, the court has pronounced on the policy of the first cum first served (FCFS), which was put in place by NDA. The court has not said a single word about the so-called estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, which was being talked about for last one year,” Tewari said.

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Dismissal of plea against Chidambaram a relief: Pranab

Kolkata: Welcoming the special court’s dismissal of petition against P Chidambaram in 2G case, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday described it as a relief for the government.

He pointed out that in its judgement the Supreme Court also referred that the then finance minister’s (Chidambaram) advice was not listened to.

Earlier in the day, a Delhi court dismissed a petition by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy seeking to make Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum case.

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2G Scam: Swamy says surprised, will appeal in higher courts

New Delhi: Surprised by the Delhi court’s rejection of his plea to make home minister P Chidambaram a co-assused in the 2G scam, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Saturday said he has a “very strong case” and will appeal against the order in higher courts.

Subramanian Swamy

“I will go to another court. This order deserves to be reserved. I will certainly appeal against it,” he told reporters.

He insisted that he has a “very strong case” both against Chidambaram and A Raja, the main accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, and that he will challenge the decision in High Court.

He said the Supreme Court had said earlier that a trial court’s decision could be challenged directly in the apex court and that he would examine this option as well.

“How can Chidambaram be vindicated by one court unless he is vindicated in all the courts,” he said.

“This is nothing new for me. I will go for appeal...This is not the first time that a petition has been dismissed,” he said, while recalling that his appeals against High Court decisions in the cases of grant of sanctions and cancellation of 2G licences had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

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2G verdict will not change corrupt image of govt: BJP

New Delhi: With the trial court granting relief to home minister P Chidambaram, BJP on Saturday said the verdict would not change the “corrupt” image of the government and the party would continue to raise the issue of his political accountability before the nation.

“This verdict will not change the corrupt image of the government or the intensity of our campaign... The issue of political accountability of Chidambaram remains alive... We will continue to raise the matter of his accountability before the nation,” said party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“This decision is of a lower court. There are two higher courts to go, as there is hierarchy of courts,” said Prasad, adding that “there is overwhelming evidence of corruption” in the grant of licences in 2G spectrum.

He said, “We are very clear that there is enough evidence against Chidambaram in public domain...

The BJP shall continue to pursue the matter before the people of the nation. The nation seeks a reply.”

BJP leader Jaswant Singh

Prasad also said, “We cannot lose sight of the fact that the Supreme Court has cancelled 122 licences because it was a scam and there was corruption. The licences were allotted arbitrarily and after manipulation of policy.”

He said the BJP will study the judgement to ascertain on what basis this decision has been taken granting relief to Chaidambaram.

The BJP leader said it shall continue to pursue the matter before the people of the nation, as there was enough evidence against Chidambaram in public domain.

Jaswant Singh said, ”No one in the government is still answering on the loss of moral authority of government and loss of governance.“

He observed that this churning will result in some cleaning in the process of government.

Reacting to the statements given by Congress leaders hailing the court order, he said, “I am not convinced with what I am hearing (from Congress leaders).... This churning will result in some cleaning.”

Another BJP leader Arun Shourie said the court order is a relief to the Congress party but a setback to the opposition.

“I am not disappointed but very surprised,” he said.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said the question of political accountability of Congress party is still unanswered and said, “We firmly believe that there is ample evidence against his political accountability.”

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Govt’s collective functioning will now be under scanner: CPI

New Delhi: CPI on Saturday said it would examine the Delhi court order dismissing a plea to make home minister P Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G scam case, but noted that the recent other court verdicts would have “far-reaching implications” on the government’s collective functioning.

CPI National Secretary D Raja

Noting that these orders could become “precedents” for the future, he said “ethical and moral questions” could be raised with respect to the role of Chidambaram, the then finance minister, from documents like the 25 March note of the finance ministry which were in the public domain.

The note by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had suggested that Chidambaram could have prevented the scam by insisting on auction of spectrum.

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