Court to resume hearing against Chidambram in 2G case

A special CBI court will on Today resume hearing on Janata Party's president Subramanian Swamy's plea to make Home Minister P Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum case.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini on October 24th had adjourned the hearing on the plea till November 8 after Swamy pointed out that his application seeking a CBI probe against the minister is pending before the apex court.

Earlier, on September 15, Swamy had sought to record his testimony afresh alleging complicity of Chidambaram in spectrum pricing.

He had said the court should bring on record purported "new facts" that Chidambaram and former Telecom Minister A Raja had a "role" in deciding 2G spectrum prices and entry fee.

"The fact that the above named two ministers together decided that the prices of spectrum and entry fee should be lumped together at the 2001 level and decided against the market price of 2007-08 period for the entry fee, is confirmed by the speech of the Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha on February 24, 2011," Swamy had said in his application.

Swamy, who is pursuing a private complaint in the 2G scam, had also sought to examine CBI officials concerned "to establish the nexus of accused persons with others, who have intentionally not been made accused by the prosecuting agency."

PM to meet Chidambaram, Pranab, Sonia today to discuss 2G note issue

The government, which is already in a fire fighting mode, will on today seek to end the controversy over Finance Ministry’s 2G note, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set to meet Home Minister P Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Singh, who returned from the US yesterday, is also likely to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the issue. Sonia has already held separate meetings with Chidambaram and Mukherjee.

A meeting of the Congress Core Group is also expected to take place this evening, following which a formal statement could be made by the government on the issue.

The controversy erupted after a Finance Ministry note on 2G issue, sent to the Prime Minister’s Office on March 25 this year, emerged. The note stated had Chidambaram insisted the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices could have been stopped, thus preventing the Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss caused to the exchequer.

The note was prepared by a Finance Ministry official and reportedly seen by current Pranab Mukherjee.

The note again brought to the fore the growing discord between two senior UPA ministers.

Earlier reports even stated that Chidambaram had offered to resign following the controversy, in order not to embarrass the government.

PM Singh has, meanwhile, fully backed Chidambaram. Even Mukherjee described the Home Minister as a “valued colleague”.

PM says in UN General Assembly, 'No dissent in the Cabinet'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday returned after a six-day visit to the US where he participated in the UN General Assembly in New York and made a strong pitch for the reform of the Security Council.

Earlier onboard Air India One, Manmohan Singh said attempts were being made to "destabilise polity" and accused the Opposition of getting "prematurely restless" to "force" early elections.

He made it clear that his government will "stay the course" and complete its full five year term.

Addressing a press conference onboard special Air India Aircraft while returning from his visit to New York via Frankurt, Singh asked the Opposition to be patient.

He said there was no dissension in his Cabinet in the context of the recent Finance Ministry note which suggested that P Chidambaram as the then Finance Minister had Singh admitted that there could be a problem of perception about his government and there was a need to correct it.

"...I suspect there are other forces which want to destabilise our polity," he said when asked about an impression that the UPA-II government had lost the goodwill and momentum it had in its earlier 'avataar'.

Singh said in the UPA-I, there were newcomers and innovators as evidenced by the new flagship programmes they had brought.

No dissent in the Cabinet, says PM "Now as far as the approval of UPA-II is concerned, the issues the government is accused of indulging in -- 2G or something else -- the Opposition thinks, should have happened before elections," Singh said.

"I think it has failed. They lost the elections and till then we have had this assembly (elections). The Congress party has been successful," the Prime Minister said.

"Therefore, I suspect there are other forces which want to destabilise our country," Singh said.

Singh said it was simply not about this crisis and that there were other issues that the government has to manage, like controlling inflation and "nothing should be done to weaken the fight".

Replying to a question about the Opposition, which appeared reasonable in the UPA-I, the Prime Minister said the Opposition is getting "prematurely restless".

"I have said this in Parliament that we have the mandate of the people to govern for five years and the Opposition should wait for two-and-a-half years.

No dissent in the Cabinet, says PM "They have got some weak points of our government and think that (they) can force elections. This is not the way. This government has the mandate for five years. It will stay its course and we will do so," he said.

The Prime Minister said "once this happens, and if we look behind (after completing the term), we would have surprised (everyone).

To a question on "growing perception" that the ministers were fighting among themselves in the context of the 2G note, he said there were no differences among Ministers.

"I think the ministerial fight you are talking about (in the media), I am not aware of such thing," he said.

"We are a cohesive government. We shall give cohesive governance. There is no room for dissensions in my Cabinet," Singh said.

Having said this, the Prime Minister added that in the Cabinet, there are always debates with "an open mind".

"The ministers have a different perspective. That does not amount to lacking cohesiveness. It always helps in taking decisions. There is nothing of the sort that the media has been writing about for the last few days," he said about the reported differences between Mukherjee and Chidambaram.

Asked whether he would give a clean chit to Chidambaram, the Prime Minister said he enjoyed his full confidence.

He said he had read the Finance Ministry note (of March 25) which was being set out as a blueprint.

"All these matters are now before the courts. And it is not appropriate for me to make a comment. These are also property of the people (under RTI)," Singh said.

Replying to a question whether he was thinking of a reshuffle, he said if one (reshuffle) has to be made, the journalists would come to know.

SC to decide on probe into Chidambaram’s 2G role

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday resume hearing on a plea by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking an investigation into Home Minister P Chidambaram's role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Chidambaram’s role as the then finance minister in deciding the pricing of the second generation (2G) spectrum allocated in 2008 has come under scanner, following the emergence of a Finance Ministry note, sent to the Prime Minister’s Office on March 25 this year. The note, prepared by a Finance Ministry official and reportedly seen by current Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, stated had Chidambaram insisted the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices could have been stopped, thus preventing the Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss caused to the exchequer.

The note, brought to light by Swamy and accessed through an RTI application, highlighted the growing discord within two senior UPA ministers.

Amid the raging storm, both Chidambaram and Mukherjee met Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday but refused to say anything. Sources however said Chidambaram offered to resign during his meeting with Gandhi. He had also, reportedly, offered to quit in a telephonic conversation with the PM last week.

Mukherjee, who returned from the US yesterday, said he will comment on the issue only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is back in the country. Singh, who was also in the US to attend the annual UN General Assembly session, is currently on his way back to the country and is expected to arrive later today.

Mukherjee had an unscheduled meeting with the PM in New York to discuss the same issue, but did not clarify his position.

Meanwhile, the CBI had last week opposed in the SC that Chidambaram's role in the 2G spectrum pricing be probed.

The apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly was told that once the CBI had completed the probe and the special trial court was holding hearing on the framing of charges, the apex court could not direct the investigating agency to undertake a fresh probe in the matter.

Appearing for the CBI, senior counsel KK Venugopal told the apex court that Swamy's application seeking "investigation of the case in a particular manner or disposal of a case in a particular manner is not maintainable".

As Swamy said that the "CBI was determined to give clean chit to Chidambaram", Venugopal told the court that "what is being argued by Dr Swamy was beyond the jurisdiction of this (apex) court" and "I will contest its maintainability".

The apex court did not appear to be in agreement with Venugopal's argument that no direction for investigation could be issued as the probe had been completed and chargesheet had been filed before the special court.

The court said that so long as the charges had not been framed and trial had not commenced, the investigating agency could be asked to carry out further probe in the light of new material.

Swamy, on his part, said that he moved the apex court for a CBI probe on Chidambaram's role in fixing the price of 2G licences as the special court had no jurisdiction to direct the CBI to conduct investigation.

Swamy referred to four meetings, three of which were between Chidambaram and former communications minister A Raja and one the two had with PM Singh, to determine the 2G licence price.

He referred to December 16, 2010, direction of the apex court which directed the CBI to investigate all angles of the scam and probe people irrespective of their status and standing.

Chidambaram: Government's record on Mumbai, Delhi terror attacks

Calling two recent terror attacks - blasts in Mumbai and Delhi -- "blots" on his government's record, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Today said the challenge of terrorism was a formidable challenge that required a comprehensive strategy of counter terrorism.

He also said that Pakistan and Afghanistan were epicentres of terror and most of the terror group based in the neighbouring country continued to target India.

Addressing top cops of the country at a conference, Chidamaram said: "The two terrorist attacks in the space of two months are indeed blots on our record. Naturally, the Central government and the security forces have been severely criticised. While we accept the responsibility for the incidents and the legitimate criticism, it is our duty to set out the context in which such terrorist attacks take place."

Stating that no country in the world appears to be entirely immune to the threat of terror, he said: "In 2011, up to August, there have been 279 major terrorist incidents in 22 countries. The worst affected are Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The epicentre of terror is Afghanistan-Pakistan. Four out of five major terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and three of them - LeT, JeM and HM - continue to target India".

He also admitted that there was no let up in attempts to infiltrate from across the line of control in Jammu & Kashmir. Besides, there are attempts to infiltrate terrorists via Nepal and Bangladesh into India as well as find a safe transit route from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu, he added.

The home minister also spoke about Indian modules, saying they seem to have the capacity to attract radicalised youth to their fold. "Some modules are loosely knit under an organisation called Indian Mujahideen. Many old cadres of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India have morphed into IM cadres. There are other Indian modules that espouse the cause of right wing religious fundamentalism or separatism. Many of these modules have acquired the capacity to make bombs," he said.

Asking police chief to build capacity to deal with several threats, the home minister said: "We do not have just one pre-eminent threat; we have several. We must build the capacity to deal with these multiple threats. Capacity building is work in progress. It requires time, money, human resources, technology and harnessing the capacity of every agency and organisation in the country".

Citing United States example, Chidambaram mentioned that following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States identified the al-Qaida as its pre-eminent security threat and declared war on al-Qaida and its affiliates and adherents. Over a period of 10 years, the US created the Department of Homeland Security; brought together 22 agencies and bodies under that department; fought two wars; and sent its agents and troops into other countries. 6,000 soldiers died; 137,000 civilians lost their lives and 7.8 millions became refugees. The cost was USD 4 trillion. And in a document put out in June 2011 the US admitted that the job is not yet done. During the last 10 years, there were three terrorist attacks on US soil (with 16 dead and 34 injured) and three nearly successful terrorist attempts that providentially failed.

The home minister in his speech gave details of what India has done in the last over two years in terms of capacity building but said: "Yet, we have not done enough. There are still over 5,00,000 vacancies in State police forces. After the cadre review, the authorised strength of the IPS was increased to 4,720. On January 1, 2011, there were 3,393 officers in position and it will take seven years to reach the optimum level. Not all states have enacted the new Police Act nor set up the State Police Establishment Board. Not all states have adopted the transparent recruitment process".

Admitting that money is a big constraint, he said: "While the expenditure on internal security by the ministry of home affairs has increased from Rs 25,302 crore in 2008-09 to a budgeted amount of Rs.40,834 crore in 2011-12, all the States and UTs put together have provided to their police forces only Rs.61,024 crore in 2011-12. Thus, we will spend Rs.101,858 crore this year on policing the whole country. This figure must be compared with Rs.164,415 crore that has been budgeted for the Defence services. It is obvious that the Centre and States must provide more money to their police forces".

Parliament set for 2G storm over NDA govt’s role

Stung by the CBI allegation that 2G spectrum allocation norms were violated during the NDA government’s tenure, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) appear all set raise the issue in the Parliament on Friday.

The party while stressing that it had no issues with any investigations into the matter wondered why the probe agency had not found any evidence against UPA leaders Dayanidhi Maran and P Chidambaram in the issue.

The CBI had yesterday informed the Supreme Court in the 2G case hearing that it has found violation of norms by Arun Shourie and Pramod Mahajan, who were Telecom Ministers in the NDA government, and maintained that the role of then Finance Minister Jaswant Singh also needs to be examined.

"As far as BJP is concerned we are very clear that any investigation can be done during NDA regime as far as telecom allocation is concerned. We have ourselves said in Parliament that the 2G case can be investigated from 1998 itselfs. We are proud of the expansion of mobile and telephone connectivity during our regime and we have nothing to hide," BJP Chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

However, he insisted that the role of UPA government, especially that of then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and officials in the PMO should also be probed.

A night full of Lokpal bill related drama

The government on Wednesday night took a tough stand and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, said a source, made it clear to Anna Hazare’s associates that if anything happened to the fasting Gandhian, they would be held responsible. Also, the source said, the government was thinking of an evacuation operation late at night at the Ramlila Maidan.

At 11pm, Team Anna members Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi took to the stage at the maidan. While Kejriwal accused the government of reneging on its promise, Bedi said Mukherjee scolded them at the meeting. Hazare appealed to the crowd to remain non-violent if the police took him away forcibly.

Earlier in the day, the first meeting between the government and Team Anna made little progress. While everyone hoped that the all-party meeting in the evening would bring forth a solution, that did not happen. And the last meeting of the day, between Team Anna and Mukherjee, drew a blank.

In the evening, major political parties failed to reach a consensus after spending four hours at PM Manmohan Singh’s official residence discussing the situation, accusing Hazare and his aides of using pressure tactics and finally blaming the Congress for the mess. Once the government had realised that even the opposition parties were not in favour of the Jan Lokpal Bill, said the source, it decided to harden its stand.

Now, if anything goes wrong, the Congress can share the blame with all parties, the source said. This may explain why the last talks of the day failed and Team Anna complained that the “government’s attitude had changed from being conciliatory to combative”.

Bhushan told that the talks had failed and “we have to start from scratch”. Another meeting is scheduled between the government and Team Anna on Today. In effect, this means Hazare’s fast will move on to the 10th day, unless his health deteriorates and Team Anna members move him to hospital in the light of Mukherjee’s warning.

Kejriwal said he had asked Mukherjee if the government planned to send the police to Ramlila Maidan and the finance minister had told them that was not his call.

Though all the representatives told after the all-party meeting that they wanted a “strong Lokpal Bill”, the fact remains that they were unhappy with Team Anna's agitation and that they were making demands to suit their own political considerations.

After Singh started the discussions, his cabinet colleagues Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram took over and conducted the meeting. But it soon became evident that the parties were in no mood to reach a consensus. Sushma Swaraj of the BJP was instrumental in changing the statement that was issued after the meeting. While most parties were keen to bring in the bill prepared by UPA National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy, Swaraj put her foot down and, instead, forced everyone to accept the inclusion of only the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by Team Anna, albeit with changes.

She insisted that the actions of MPs in Parliament be kept out of the Lokpal’s ambit. As for removing the Lokpal, she suggested that the power be vested in Parliament where members could impeach the Lokpal in a manner similar to the impeachment of the higher judiciary. The BJP was, however, keen that the lower bureaucracy be included in the ambit of the Lokpal.

The Samajwadi Party submitted a written representation asking for the judiciary to be kept out of the Lokpal's ambit while bringing NGOs and corporate houses in.

The Left also criticised the agitation. Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI expressed his displeasure at “people [Team Anna] trying to run down Parliament”.

Towards the end of the meeting, all the parties, however, united to launch a scathing attack on the Congress party’s “inept handling” of the crisis and termed the discussion “a meeting that did not even have a prepared agenda”.

Now Raja wants PM Manmohan Singh as witness in 2G case

Jailed former telecom minister A Raja on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he would get Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, then finance minister P Chidambaram and present telecom minister Kapil Sibal summoned as witnesses to prove government did not incur any loss in the 2G allocation.

"Aaj main bata dena chahta hu ki main Prime Minister, tabke finance minister or vartman ke telecom minister ko battor gawah banaunga (Today, I want to state that I would get the Prime Minister, the then finance minister and the present telecom minister summoned as witnesses)," senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, told Special CBI Judge OP Saini.

The moment it is established that there was no loss to the state exchequer, the whole case of cheating and conspiracy in the spectrum allocation will go, he said, claiming that the Prime Minister and two other ministers would be able to establish that.

He said Raja would move an application under section 91 of the CrPC for getting certain documents from the CBI which had so far not been brought before the court.

The defence counsel also raised the issue of offloading of equity by Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech (Tamil Nadu) Wireless Pvt Ltd to Dubai-based Etisalat and Norway-based Telenor respectively and maintained that there was no criminality involved in those transactions.

"First of all there was no sale of licences, then the offloading of equities was within the limit of 74%. Moreover, the transactions were cleared at the highest level (the Foreign Investment Promotion Board)," he said.