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Should PM's Role In 2G Scam Be Probed?
By siliconindia
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Monday, 26 September 2011, 23:30 IST |
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Maran's Letter To PM
A letter written by former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran in 2006 to PM has opened a Pandora's Box for Singh.
In January 2006, Singh had approved a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look after the additional spectrum for private telecom players. The Groups terms of reference included the price of the 2G spectrum. A protest meeting by Maran with Prime Minister in February and a letter by the former Telecom Minister forced the PM to dilute the agenda of the GoM, and leave the pricing issue exclusively in the hands of the Telecom Ministry.
In the letter dated February 28, 2006, Maran had asked Singh to recall their meeting on February 1, when he urged the PM to dilute the terms of reference, so that the pricing issue would not come under GoM. The letter also reminded Singh of his assurance that, "the terms of reference of the GoM would be drawn up exactly the way we wanted, which was to focus only on the issue of vacation of spectrum."
It is clear that the PM was arm twisted into accepting Maran's demand, which later led to one of country's worst scams under Raja.
Apart from his complacency in the pricing issue, Singh has also come under the scanner for ignoring the advice of then Foreign Minister Pranab Mukharjee.
