Government denies Chidambaram had any role in 2G allocation

Coming strongly in support of home minister P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal today attacked the BJP-led NDA of attempting to "foist" culpability on him in the 2G scam and making parliamentary democracy dysfunctional.

Holding a press conference, Sibal said that the government rejected all allegations against the then finance minister and alleged that elements in the NDA were trying to malign and defame Chidambaram.

Chidambaram, who was finance minister at the time of spectrum allocation, alleges that elements in the NDA were trying to malign defame him.

Sibal also said the then telecom minister A Raja had not had any meeting with Chidambaram prior to the issuance of the Letter of Intent (LoI) to telecom operators (2G spectrum allocation) on 10 January, 2008.

According to Sibal, the record would show that the ministry of finance had no knowledge that the LOIs would be issued on 10 January, 2008.

He added that as finance minister Chidambaram was not responsible in any way for the issue of Letter of Intent by the telecom ministry then headed by A Raja in January 2008.