Attorney General to represent Manmohan Singh in 2G case

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be represented by India’s top legal officer, the Attorney General, in the Supreme Court after the PM was asked to reply why he did not act swiftly on a plea to prosecute A Raja, the former telecom minister accused of enacting the multi-billion-rupee 2G spectrum scam.

According to sources on Friday, Attorney General of India GE Vahanvati will replace Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to argue for the Prime Minister who faced an unprecedented rebuke by the Supreme Court on the 2G matter.

Speaking to a TV channel, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said the Attorney General was called in for better coordination and not for replacement.

Subramanium said he would continue to represent the central government and the telecom department in the case while the AG will represent the Prime Minister.

The 2G Spectrum scam spelt the biggest embarrassment for the Central government on Thursday as the Supreme Court (SC) sought an affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister for his inordinate delay in acting against the scam while Opposition stalled proceedings in the Parliament over the scam.

The court was responding to the allegations of no response from the PMO to Janata Dal leader Subramanium Swamy’s repeated letters seeking sanction to prosecute former Telecom minister A Raja in the scam which cost the state exchequer Rs 1.76 lakh crore (nearly $40 billion).

“The matter is extremely serious. We must know what has been kept back,” the court said after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium replied on why there was delay in sanctioning prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the government to explain why the PM took 11 months to respond to a request by former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy that asked for Raja to be prosecuted for the 2G scam.