The Congress camp was elated on Thursday after the special court ruling.
The party maintained that there was no loss to the exchequer and said the UPA’s stand was exonerated after the verdict.
Reminding the BJP that it had pegged its campaign against the UPA government on the 2G scam, the Congress demanded an apology for “ruining careers, companies” and “blocking investments” to the country.
The party said the entire case was built on a draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and said Parliamentary procedures were bypassed when the report was considered by the court without the Public Account’s Committee’s consideration and adoption of the same.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , who had to face criticism over his office keeping “an arm’s length” from 2G affairs, said the CBI court pronounced that the massive propaganda unleashed against the UPA government was without any foundation.
“We respect the court’s judgment. I do not want to boast (about) anything. I think the court’s judgment has to be respected. I am glad that the court has pronounced unambiguously that all this massive propaganda which was being done against the UPA was without any foundation,” Singh said, adding that the judgment speaks for itself.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram , who was also under flak from the Opposition, said the allegation of a major scam involving the highest levels of government was never true and not correct and that had been established by the verdict.
Senior Congress leader and former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said the nation paid a huge price as investors turned away because of the false allegations.
“We are keen on a debate on the issue in Parliament,” he said. He added that only after the PAC’s consideration, the CAG report would have got the stamp of approval.
Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders must apologise to the country. “BJP stands exposed today before the country,” he added.
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