Focus on NDA, Jaswant to be grilled

The CBI Thursday told the Supreme Court that it had begun probing the allocation of telecom licences during the NDA regime when Arun Shourie and the late Pramod Mahajan were telecom ministers.

The CBI Thursday told the Supreme Court that it had begun probing the allocation of telecom licences during the NDA regime when Arun Shourie and the late Pramod Mahajan were telecom ministers.

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Presenting the CBI's latest status report, senior counsel KK Venugopal said former finance minister Jaswant Singh would also be examined for his statement on the grant of licences during Shourie's tenure.

Venugopal told the court that the probe showed "violation" of norms during the NDA regime.

Mahajan was telecom minister between 2001 and 2003 while Shourie held the portfolio from January 2003 to May 2004.

Singh headed the group of ministers (GoM) on the issue of limited mobility and unified licencing during the relevant period.

Reacting to the court development, the BJP said it had no issues with any investigation into the matter but wondered why the agency had not found any evidence against UPA leaders Dayanidhi Maran and P Chidambaram on the issue.

"As far as the BJP is concerned, we are very clear that any investigation can be done during the NDA regime as far as telecom allocation is concerned.

"We have ourselves said in Parliament that the 2G case can be investigated from 1998 itself. We are proud of the expansion of mobile and telephone connectivity during our regime and we have nothing to hide," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.