Kamal Nath on Friday said the former Prime Minister may have made a “mistake” in not acting despite his letter to him expressing concern over the spectrum allocation process.
When ex-CAG Vinod Rai gave an interview to Times Now prior to the release of his book Not Just An Accountant, he made some important revelations about the UPA government.
These revelations almost proved that the Manmohan Singh-led government of 10 years was neck deep into scams within few months of its formation.
Rai attacked the former prime minister on 2G issue and said that Singh “chose not to stop” the problems in the telecom sector.
“I found that minister of his own council who were writing to him again and again, saying that problems are (there) or there is talk about developments in the telecom sector. I quoted Kamal Nath writing to the prime minister and expressing concerns about the development in the sector. I have written about the finance ministry expressing concerns, I have written about the law ministry expressing concerns. Now, all these things went to the prime minister,” Rai had said.
Leading from there, Nath on Friday said the former Prime Minister may have made a “mistake” in not acting despite his letter to him expressing concern over the spectrum allocation process.
“He may have made a mistake. I would go along with you. I brought it to his notice. He did not understand the import and he did not act,” Nath said while answering a question as to whether the former PM made a mistake.
Asked if things would have been different had Manmohan Singh acted differently, Nath said “as recommended in my letter, if a group or a Cabinet Committee was set up, obviously the process would have changed. It required much more sharper and focused attention”.
However, like his party, he downplayed his own sentiments. “I was disappointed that the Prime Minister did not act…. In retrospect and hindsight, gravity and magnitude was not known. It was not known to me and the PM. It is very unfair to say that he knew everything,” the former Union Minister and Singh’s party colleague told Times Now.
Well, it is easy for Nath to say, but day after day, it is becoming clearer that Singh was deliberately ignoring the matter and all his ministries were a party to it. Merely saying that he had written the letter much earlier than when the CAG came into picture, doesn’t lessen his responsibilities. What did he do when CAG actually came into picture? Did he warn the PM? Did he write another letter? Did he meet the PM and tried to draw his attention to the situation? Nath was a minister for God’s sake!
Also, Nath stumbles again when he tries to defend Sonia Gandhi. Talking to Times Now, Nath said that “10 Janpath did not know what was happening” even when it has become a proven fact that the 10 Janpath was privy to all the official informations and secretly playing its hand in all the government work.
In fact he tried to put this back on Rai and wondered that the CAG “never stumbled upon my letter, which was on record”.
Saying that he discharged his duty by writing a letter, and that PM made a mistake, doesn’t mean that Nath is not accountable. Nath was part of the government and he had a responsibility towards the people of this country.
