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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Pradip Baijal’s claims put focus back on corruption under UPA govt
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Pradip Baijal’s claims put focus back on corruption under UPA govt

Former Trai chairman's accusations come at a time when the NDA govt has listed a corruption-free environment as the prime achievement in its first year

A file photo of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal claims Singh warned him of harm if he did not cooperate on the allocation of 2G spectrum licences. Photo: BloombergPremium
A file photo of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. Former Trai chairman Pradip Baijal claims Singh warned him of harm if he did not cooperate on the allocation of 2G spectrum licences. Photo: Bloomberg

Claims made by a former government official that former prime minister Manmohan Singh warned him of harm if he did not cooperate on the allocation of second-generation telecom licences have rekindled the debate over corruption under the previous Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

In a self-published book titled The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power and Private Enterprise - A Practitioner’s Diary, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradip Baijal wrote: “They (Central Bureau of Investigation) had warned me in each case that I would be harmed if I didn’t cooperate. Incidentally, this was exactly what the eminent economist Prime Minister had told me would happen if I did not cooperate in their scheme of things in the 2G case."

Baijal’s accusations come at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance has listed a corruption-free environment as the prime achievement in its first year in office.

Baijal, in his book, added that he was “not treated properly" after he gave recommendations on the unified licensing regime. “That led to many problems and that led to adverse inference against me by the ruling party then... When I met Prime Minister late, he said that you must listen to your minister and you must take his view in to consideration. I said his view will get me in to lot of trouble," he wrote.

To be sure, Baijal himself has been accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, a point used by the Congress to defend itself on Tuesday.

“Pradip Baijal has himself been named in a case of fraud and cheating in the 2G issue... he seems to be acting as a shield of a government that is unable to explain its inefficiency in the one-year duration," said Randeep Surjewala, the Congress’s national spokesperson and communication department in charge.

Surjewala added that the charges were “imaginary, false and baseless".

Baijal’s claims come a few days after President Pranab Mukherjee told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that the Bofors scandal surrounding late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was a media trial and that one should not get too carried away by the publicity it received.

In the recent past, books by former officials have aided critics attacking the Congress party, including one by Singh’s former media advisor Sanjaya Baru and another by former coal secretary P.C. Parekh, an accused in the coal blocks allocation case.

The Congress party faced a drubbing in last year’s general election over several instances of alleged corruption during its rule.

The BJP made corruption its main campaign plank and continues to attack the Congress over the issue.

PTI contributed to the story.

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Published: 27 May 2015, 12:34 AM IST
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