"Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the March 25 note of the finance ministry does not represent his views sounds comical. A proper government memorandum was seen by the finance minister and consulted with the PMO, Cabinet Secretary, Law Secretary and Telecom Ministry," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
BJP insisted that it knew well that this was "not only Mukherjee's baby", and said had the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram taken "pre-emptive and precautionery steps" the 2G scam could have been avoided and the loss of "lakhs of crores" averted.
"Licenses could have been cancelled but Chidambaram did not do so," Prasad said.
"This is not an internal matter between the Congress ministers or settlement of their bruised inter-se egoes. It concerns loot of public revenue and over-ruling of repeated advice of senior officers by Chidambaram to facilitate massive irregularities of then Telecom Minister A Raja," Prasad said.
The BJP charged that this was a crucial issue and Mukherjee's statement further erodes public confidence in the UPA government. It said his contention that the 2007 cabinet decision of consulting both Telecom and Finance Ministries was followed is "baseless and untenable".
The party also questioned Chidambaram's statement.
"Who is Chidambaram to accept Mukherjee's statement when there is mounting evidence against him? He should resign and his role should be investigated," Prasad said.
