Chandrasekhar flays Sibal's claim of no 2G losses

In a hard-hitting reply to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's claim that the exchequer suffered no losses due to 2G spectrum allocation, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar today said it was "an insult to the intelligence of the people of India and media".

In a hard-hitting reply to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's claim that the exchequer suffered no losses due to 2G spectrum allocation, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said it was "an insult to the intelligence of the people of India and media".

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"To contend that there has been no loss to exchequer in the face of overwhelming evidence of at least two private companies profiteering from this cheap spectrum, is to insult the intelligence of the people of India and media," Chandrasekhar said in a statement. Sibal today slammed the CAG for its projection of a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore for the arbitrary allocation of 2G spectrum, terming its methodology as "utterly erroneous".

The Telecom Minister said there was "no loss at all" to the exchequer due to allocation of licences and 2G spectrum in 2008. "Minister Sibal must also realise spectrum and other national assets are not a private dispute between BJP and Congress ... Government's handling of this has to meet the test of right and wrong and not simply rely on precedence of history or conduct of a previous government," Chandrasekhar said.