Only JPC can expose 2G scam: Prakash Karat

Describing the 2G spectrum allocation as the biggest scam of India, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday said that only a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe will bring the truth to light.

“This Rs 1.76 lakh crore scam is the biggest one after independence and we want a JPC probe into it to bring truth to light,” Mr Karat said at a function organised here to launch the party’s week-long nationwide campaign against corruption.

The 1.76 lakh crore should be recovered, he said.

Demanding reallocation of the 2G spectrum, Mr Karat said many companies were given licenses illegally allowing them to make huge profits in the short span of two to three months. For the last two weeks, Parliament proceedings have been stalled and the opposition is demanding JPC probe into the 2G spectrum allocation, he said.

The CPI(M) leader said the CBI was too slow in its investigation into the 2G spectrum scam and has not done anything noteworthy in the last 13 months. The CBI has become a tool of the Centre, which uses the investigating agency against opposition leaders, he said.

Mr Karat said it took three years for former Telecom Minister A Raja to resign over the 2G spectrum. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had written a letter to A Raja in connection with allocation of 2G spectrum in November 2007. But after this, the PM did nothing in this regard, he alleged.

Commenting on the alleged scams related to the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Mr Karat said though the Organising Committee and its chairman Suresh Kalmadi were under scanner, role of Delhi and the Central governments in conducting the Games should also be probed. Noting that Rs 960 crore had been spent in modernisation of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi for the CWG, he said that a huge stadium had come up in Hyderabad for Rs 90 crore.

Mr Karat said Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa should resign in the wake of corruption charges against him so that a fair probe could be conducted against him. He said that a nexus of politicians, industrialists and bureaucrats has flourished under the Government’s economic policies, which was breeding corruption. “This needs to be destroyed,” he said.

Corruption has become a threat to democracy, Mr Karat said, adding that steps were needed to eradicate it.