People should not forget Tehelka: Pranab Mukherjee
Union Finance Minister on Friday said opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no right to gurgle about corruption in UPA government regime as its own national president was captured on camera taking money in the Tehelka expose and that too while NDA was in power.
Mukherjee?s outburst comes a day BJP veteran LK Advani slammed the Congress-led central government for not agreeing to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
“What we have seen in the earlier regime, people should not forget… what happened in Tehelka. How president of a national party was found taking money. It was on camera,? Mukherjee told reporters here on Friday
?Now if they talk of corruption, let them speak,” Mukherjee said.
In 2001, then BJP national president Bangaru Laxman was caught taking bribe on the video footage in a sting operation by Tehelka, then a website. The expose led to his resignation from the position.
The senior Congress leader also voiced his discontent at the way media is covering the 2G scam.
?There is no need for trial by media. We started our investigations into corruptions since day one the V K Shunglu Committee was appointed. Also, the concerned minister (A Raja) resigned immediately after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report was filed, despite not being proved guilty,? Mukherjee said.
On Thursday, Advani said the only way to end the Parliament stalemate is to agree to a JPC probe into the 2G scam.
?The responsibility for the parliamentary stalemate rests entirely on the shoulders of the Government. Once the JPC is announced the NDA favours the resumption of parliamentary business forthwith.
The more it delays the setting up of a JPC, the more is the nation entitled to presume that the government is trying to evade the search and detection of truth which may be embarrassing to it,? Advani said at a press conference.
Meanwhile, the Parliament logjam continued for the 16th consecutive day on Friday with the Opposition disrupting the Question Hour and demanding JPC probe into the scam.
The All-party meeting on Tuesday failed to break the logjam that has almost deadlocked the Indian Parliament over the 2G scam.
The Opposition stuck to its demand for a JPC while the government mooted a Supreme Court administered Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the scam that has more grist to its mill now with the release of Radia tapes pointing at corporate lobbying to influence ministerial appointments.
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report had held Raja ?personally responsible? for costing the national exchequer a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore through ?illogical? sale of 2G telecom spectrum in 2008.
