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The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today asserted that he was not aware of the methodology of the controversial first-come, first-serve (FCFS) policy followed for 2G spectrum allocation by former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, which resulted in a huge scam estimated to be up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
“Who got the licences... how FCFS was implemented, this was never discussed with me nor was it brought to the Cabinet. This was exclusively the Telecom Minister’s decision,” Dr Singh said in an interaction with the editors from the electronic media.
He, however, said that since the Ministries of Finance and Telecom had agreed to continue with the existing policy of allocating 2G spectrum, “I did not feel that I was in a position to insist that auction must be insisted.”
The government auditor CAG had estimated a presumptive loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to sale of spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices.
This had forced Mr Raja to resign from the Union Cabinet in November last year and was followed by his arrest on spectrum 2G scam charges.
On retaining Mr Raja as the Telecom Minister in UPA-II, the Prime Minister said in a coalition government, the choices of the leaders of the alliance partners have to be accepted and that the DMK had suggested the induction of Mr Raja and Mr Dayanidhi Maran into the Union Cabinet.
“At that moment, there was no reason to feel that anything wrong had been done,” the Prime Minister said
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