Sibal a great advocate of Raja: Arun Shourie

MUMBAI: Former telecom minister Arun Shourie tore into the UPA leadership over the Justice Shivraj Patil report on 2G scandal, saying it was a "command performance" to shield A Raja. Shourie launched a scathing attack on Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and said his recent actions amounted to an attempt to save A Raja.


Shourie alleged many sensitive documents were not supplied to Justice Patil. "Since he did not have access to proper records, some bureaucrats are being targeted wrongly in the investigation," he said.


Shourie said letters that show how the Trai was informed about the important decisions taken by the Department Of Telecom (DoT) during the NDA regime were been suppressed. "Former chairman of Trai, Pradeep Baijal, is being questioned only for one letter that he wrote to the then secretary of DoT."


Shourie, who hit out at Sibal, said the minister has been changing his position frequently. "In his first press conference on the 2G scam issue, he claimed that there was no loss to the exchequer. In his second press conference, Sibal claimed that Raja had informed the prime minister about all important decisions. These two statements amounted to saying that Raja did not commit any wrongdoing. Kapil Sibal is being a poor advocate of the government but a great advocate of Raja," Shourie said.


Shourie, who contested Justice Patil's findings, said the NDA regime had not deviated from the Trai recommendations. "Actually every single Trai recommendation was adhered to by us in letter and spirit. Justice Patil's report is manufactured. On every single matter, we had consulted Trai and acted accordingly. This was done in consultation with the finance ministry. Member (finance) was present at every meeting. His signatures are on every decision, including the first-come-first-served decision," he said.


Shourie said Justice Patil's observation that decisions taken during NDA regime were not in line with Cabinet resolution was incorrect.