2G scam: consulted PM, Chidambaram, says Raja

Former telecom minister A Raja today defended his role in the second generation telecom spectrum allocation scam saying that he had consulted both prime minister Manmohan Singh and the then finance minister P Chidambaram on the 2G spectrum sale.

''I will prove my innocence,'' Raja said a day after a joint parliamentary board headed by Congress MP P C Chacko gave clean chit to both prime minister and the finance minister in the 2G spectrum case.

Raja said he will submit a detailed 100-page note on the spectrum sale to the JPC. ''I hope the JPC will call me after the detailed note," Raja added.

Chacko defended the PM, saying he was "misled" by the then telecom minister A Raja whose assurances stood "belied".

"The committee is inclined to conclude that the prime minister was misled about the procedure decided to be followed by the department of telecommunications. Further, the assurance given by the minister of communications and information technology in all his correspondence with the prime minister to maintain full transparency in following established rules and procedures of the department stood belied," the draft report said.

Chacko also slammed the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which estimated the likely loss to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum sale at around Rs1,76,000 crore, saying it was ''ill-conceived.''

The report, which is yet to be presented to Parliament, also criticises the method the CAG used to compute the losses in the 2008 2G spectrum sale and the comparison with 3G auction figures of 2010.

Meanwhile, opposition BJP slammed the leakage of the JPC draft as a "gross breach of parliamentary propriety".

BJP, however, said the contents of the JPC draft report appeared like a Congress document, which was solely intended to save its leaders, including the prime minister.