2G spectrum case verdict: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan says BJP's 'lies have been exposed'

Nagpur: A special CBI court on Thursday acquitted all 19 accused in the controversial 2G spectrum case, which had sparked off widespread criticism of the UPA government. Reacting to the verdict, senior Maharashtra Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that the BJP ’lies have been exposed.’ Speaking to Firstpost, Chavan said, “When the UPA government was in power, massive agenda-driven propaganda was carried out against us. The Bharatiya Janata Party benefited from this propaganda. The court verdict in the 2G case has proved the Congress and the UPA government’s innocence.” Prithviraj Chavan is a former chief minister of Maharashtra and was the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) when the alleged scandal broke out, and when the controversy became the subject of political slugfests. He is presently in Nagpur for the Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. [caption id=“attachment_4270009” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Prithviraj Chavan. Firstpost/Sachin Gokhale[/caption] “Today’s court verdict has reiterated that no such corruption took place during the regime of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. That is why all 19 accused in the case have been acquitted,” Chavan said. Chavan said that the BJP used the issue to level allegations of corruptions against the Congress, because of which the latter lost the Lok Sabha elections. “The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)—a constitutional authority—allowed the BJP to mislead the nation. The BJP played the role of a highly irresponsible opposition. But now, due to this judgment, the people have come to know of the real scenario regarding to 2G spectrum,” he remarked. The CAG, headed by Vinod Rai , had estimated that the 2G spectrum had led to a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, an allegation which was vociferously contested by the UPA. Chavan said that in the UPA era, multiple forces, including the BJP, the Anna Hazare-led movement and other political forces like Arvind Kejriwal, levied allegations against the Congress, due to which it faced defeat. “We were not able to adequately respond to the charges levelled by the BJP and other parties, due to which we suffered in the elections despite not having indulged in any corruption.” “The fact remains that there is no substantial material on record to prove the allegation which have been made. If the BJP has any evidence, why has it not produced the same in court after the Modi government came to power?” Chavan said. The former minister of state said that the government’s priority needs to be that of revenue maximinsation. “This was a policy that we took forward from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era,” he said, adding that spectrum and coal allocations have put a ’tremendous strain’ on the public sector. Prithviraj Chavan also responded to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s assertion that the CBI court’s judgment does not mean a ‘clean chit.’ Jaitley has said that the Congress should not consider the verdict as a ‘badge of honour.’ Chavan said, “We respect the verdict of the court. On what basis is Jaitley speaking about this case? He should apologise, as the BJP has not been able to produce any evidence in the last 42 months. The case is a black mark in the history of the CAG.” Former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi were among the 19 people who were acquitted by the special CBI court on Thursday. Other prominent accused acquitted in the case are former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja’s erstwhile private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair.