PM should own up if he made mistake, says CPM

The CPM on Sunday persisted with the demand for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the 2G spectrum scam, saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should own up if he made a mistake. HT reports.

The CPM on Sunday persisted with the demand for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the 2G spectrum scam, saying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should own up if he made a mistake.

HT Image

"There is always a charge against us that we are questioning the integrity (of Singh). What we are questioning is your infallibility and not your integrity. If you have made a mistake, own up to it," party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters.

Yechury quoted the telecom department's affidavit in the Supreme Court as saying that "not only was there no difference of opinion with the Hon'ble Prime Minister, his office was also fully kept informed of all decisions".

Copies of parts of the affidavit were circulated at the CPM press conference, along with letters between the Prime Minister and former telecom minister A Raja on 2G spectrum allocation between 2007 and 2008.

Yechury said it was the government's "own admission, and not an Opposition charge and the government itself and the former minister (Raja) have dragged the PM's name in not less than five times".

Party general secretary Prakash Karat, who briefed the media about the proceedings at the three-day central committee meeting, said, "It is not just a question of one minister or ministry. It is very clear that what happened (on the spectrum issue) was known to the prime minister, the finance ministry, the law ministry and the entire government."

Reiterating the demand for a JPC probe, Karat demanded action against all those guilty, including the "corporates who colluded to deprive the nation".