New Delhi: Facing Congress attack over his December 2007 letter, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday rejected the allegation that he disfavoured auction of 2G spectrum, saying that he only wanted that PSUs like MTNL and BSNL were not losers.
Joshi, as Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 2, 2007, quoting media reports on MNCs "launching a tirade against allocation of spectrum" to BSNL and MTNL.
"These private operators wish to prevent growth of BSNL and MTNL by depriving them of spectrum that they require. Some operators have suggested that spectrum should be auctioned which means that there could be a case of hoarding and cartelisation to the detriment of MTNL and BSNL," Joshi states in the letter.
However, Joshi denied that his letter states he was against auction. He insisted that his opinion did not matter and the issue was why the government did not go for auction and gave away spectrum at 2001 prices.
"I was never in agreement with P Chidambaram (then Finance Minister).... I was talking about the issue of increasing teledensity in rural areas," Joshi told reporters.
Quoting from his letter, he further said, "I would, therefore, request you (PM) to protect the interests of our PSUs, and the interests of the genuine players. Perhaps, this can be achieved by ensuring a level playing field through a licensing policy which earns revenue to the government..."
Joshi said that this was not done and neither was the original source of money revealed by those who got the licences.
Joshi alleged that government had failed to provide transparency in spectrum allocation and ensure a level-playing field where new players and PSUs like MTNL and BSNL were not at a disadvantage.
He insisted that the anomalies occurred not due to his views on the issue but due to differences between ministers in the cabinet.
"I still hold what I said in the letter," Joshi said.
Referring to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's March 25 letter to PMO which recently created a lot of controversy, he maintained that the draft alleges that had Chidambaram stuck to the stand of having auction, the scam would not have taken place.
"This note was later modified substantially," Joshi said, adding that this whole exercise was undertaken to prevent different versions of the government going to the PAC.
"The crux of the matter is that Chidambaram did not stand up and oppose it," he said.
The BJP claimed that now nobody in government could argue that all sections- from the Telecom and Finance Ministry to the PMO- were "not involved".
"I reiterate what we have been saying about 2G allocation- that the then Finance Minister did not stop it even when it was happening under his nose," Joshi said.
BJP also disclosed the reply to Joshi's letter to the Prime Minister. Then Telecom Minister A Raja replied to Joshi's letter on March 7, 2008, in which he tried to put concerns of the BJP leader on excess spectrum to private players to rest.
"Neither excess spectrum has been allotted to any operator beyond their eligibility, as per the criteria prevailing at the time of allotment, nor free of charge. MTNL and BSNL have been allotted some spectrum for trial," Raja said in his reply.
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