Raja responsible for 2G mess: Behura to JPC

In his testimony to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Tuesday, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura squarely blamed then telecom minister A Raja for most of the decisions related to the controversial 2G spectrum allocation. HT reports.

In his testimony to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Tuesday, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura squarely blamed then telecom minister A Raja for most of the decisions related to the controversial 2G spectrum allocation.

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Behura, a key accused in the scam who is out on bail, also said he had difference of opinion with Raja over the controversial first-come-first-serve policy for allocation of the spectrum.

According to sources, CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta and BJP’s Yashwant Sinha and Ravi Shankar Prasad intensely grilled Behura and questioned why he had overruled the ministry’s objections against Swan Telecom and decided to allot it 2G licence. Behura said he had received complaints against the initial findings and later the issue was resolved.

He also termed Raja’s decision to change the cut-off date from October 30, 2007, to September 25, 2007 for granting licences as “unusual”.

Behrua also told the JPC that he felt if more than one applicant complies with conditions, then their inter se seniority of submission should be taken. JPC chairman PC Chacko said, "But the minister did not agree and deleted Behura’s observation and wrote on the file ‘not necessary as it is a new stipulation’.