In dark, Congress wants UPA govt to clarify

Caught off-guard with no answer to questions on the then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran’s letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum auction, the Congress seems to agree that the government should clarify on the issue.

Questions are now asked whether the prime minister modified the terms of reference of the Group of Ministers on allocation and pricing of spectrum in response to Maran’s letter. This is because Singh had removed the pricing of spectrum from the GoM’s terms of reference after Maran made a request in the letter.

A highly placed Congress office-bearer agreed that the government should issue a clarification.  However, a new line of defence argument that the party has come up is that the prime minister is not always aware of all the daily administrative decisions that a cabinet colleague takes, and that Singh is not aware of Raja allocating spectrum to particular companies.
“If something was irregular and money was paid as favour it should be inquired into and the guilt punished,” said the party source on condition of anonymity.

There is no doubt that the party is both rattled and confused, and the desperation can be seen in the responses. And the party has no clear answers for the faux pas of the government.
The apprehension has been expressed that if the trial by media were to go on in the manner it has been in the last few months and the opposition were to raise a furore at every turn, the government would come to standstill.

“We will take a beating any way. But it is you (the media) who will have to pay the price for nailing the party and the government without knowing the full facts,” the office bearer said.