THE CARTELIZATION OF INDIA'S POLITICAL CORRUPTION
Subject: I think Sourie is on the way out in BJP
New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Shourie has claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was informed about former telecom minister A Raja's involvement in the 2G spectrum scam in 2009. Shourie, who was the telecom minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said that Singh took no action against Raja even after getting the information about the scam. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Shourie said that after the Prime Minister did not act on his complaint for a month, he was forced to approach the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Transcript of the interview:
Karan Thapar: I gather that as far back as August-September 2009 you met the Prime Minister in Parliament, you gave him details of the enormous loot happening over spectrum under Raja. You also showed him papers as proof. Tell me what exactly happened at that meeting.
Arun Shourie: Actually it was the Prime Minister's question day and then he would take a particular route outside so I stood in the path that he usually takes from the lobby of the Rajya Sabha. I had the papers with me listing the front companies of Raja into which the money was going, the appointments that had been made, the brokers that are there and I said to him in Punjabi, "Dr Singh, loot is happening under the umbrella of your good name." His demeanour was as if he was saying what has to be done. I said, "Nothing much. You just request Nair (Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office TKA Nair) to contact me."
Karan Thapar: Nair being his secretary?
Arun Shourie: His Principal Secretary and a very good officer. So I said that he can contact me and I'll give him all these papers and then he can proceed with the CBI. Please just tell him to give me an appointment. He (Prime Minister) said he (Nair) will call you.
Karan Thapar: So Prime Minister said Nair will call you?
Arun Shourie: He said I will talk to him and he will call you.
Karan Thapar: Did Nair call you?
Arun Shourie: No. I waited for one full month. Then in October 2009 I contacted Mr Ashwini Kumar who was then the CBI director. I gave him the papers, led him through the papers, gave him the name and the telephone number and the contact and the person through whom he could contact the person who knows everything and who was working with Raja.
Karan Thapar: This is a sort of a whistleblower.
Arun Shourie: The whistleblower. The hero of the whole matter who has been receiving threats to his life. The CBI then contacted him in the first week of November 2009 and met him again and again and again. And when they had all the details and they followed those things up, the investigative officer was transferred out.
Karan Thapar: So can I just clarify two things? It was your meeting with the CBI director in 2009 and your introducing the whistleblower to the CBI that actually gave the CBI the details and the knowledge and the information that led to the case against Raja.
Arun Shourie: No I am nobody. I don't want to be a hero or anything. Yes, that person is the real hero who has done national service.
Karan Thapar: The whistleblower?
Arun Shourie: Yes.
Karan Thapar: Can you reveal his name?
Arun Shourie: No. You can't imagine the threats under which he is living today.
Karan Thapar: Just one question. He must be, I presume, a government servant and an insider who knows the details.
Arun Shourie: Yes absolutely. There were two persons only there.
Karan Thapar: He was one of the two people who knew the full story?
Arun Shourie: Full story. And he has all the papers. He has the calling cards. When did Balwa come? Through whom did he come? Everything.
Karan Thapar: What about this? For at least a year, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have been accusing not only the prime minister of a cover-up but even suggesting a possibility of involvement. You had proof that at least of cover-up the PM can be accused and you didn't make the proof available.
Arun Shourie: The BJP knows what I knew.
Karan Thapar: The BJP knows what you knew? Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley know this?
Arun Shourie: I don't want to talk about BJP's internal meeting but it is certainly my assessment that they were not interested in following these things.
Karan Thapar: Even the BJP wasn't interested?
Arun Shourie: No.
Karan Thapar: The BJP had dynamite and they weren't interested in following it up?
Arun Shourie: That's true. That's unfortunately true.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:13:46 +0000
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:13:46 +0000
Subject: I think Sourie is on the way out in BJP
New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Shourie has claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was informed about former telecom minister A Raja's involvement in the 2G spectrum scam in 2009. Shourie, who was the telecom minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said that Singh took no action against Raja even after getting the information about the scam. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Shourie said that after the Prime Minister did not act on his complaint for a month, he was forced to approach the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Shourie also alleged that his own party is not interested in taking the matter forward. (So much for BJP's stalling the Parliament for months on end over JPC.)
Transcript of the interview:
Karan Thapar: I gather that as far back as August-September 2009 you met the Prime Minister in Parliament, you gave him details of the enormous loot happening over spectrum under Raja. You also showed him papers as proof. Tell me what exactly happened at that meeting.
Arun Shourie: Actually it was the Prime Minister's question day and then he would take a particular route outside so I stood in the path that he usually takes from the lobby of the Rajya Sabha. I had the papers with me listing the front companies of Raja into which the money was going, the appointments that had been made, the brokers that are there and I said to him in Punjabi, "Dr Singh, loot is happening under the umbrella of your good name." His demeanour was as if he was saying what has to be done. I said, "Nothing much. You just request Nair (Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office TKA Nair) to contact me."
Karan Thapar: Nair being his secretary?
Arun Shourie: His Principal Secretary and a very good officer. So I said that he can contact me and I'll give him all these papers and then he can proceed with the CBI. Please just tell him to give me an appointment. He (Prime Minister) said he (Nair) will call you.
Karan Thapar: So Prime Minister said Nair will call you?
Arun Shourie: He said I will talk to him and he will call you.
Karan Thapar: Did Nair call you?
Arun Shourie: No. I waited for one full month. Then in October 2009 I contacted Mr Ashwini Kumar who was then the CBI director. I gave him the papers, led him through the papers, gave him the name and the telephone number and the contact and the person through whom he could contact the person who knows everything and who was working with Raja.
Karan Thapar: This is a sort of a whistleblower.
Arun Shourie: The whistleblower. The hero of the whole matter who has been receiving threats to his life. The CBI then contacted him in the first week of November 2009 and met him again and again and again. And when they had all the details and they followed those things up, the investigative officer was transferred out.
Karan Thapar: So can I just clarify two things? It was your meeting with the CBI director in 2009 and your introducing the whistleblower to the CBI that actually gave the CBI the details and the knowledge and the information that led to the case against Raja.
Arun Shourie: No I am nobody. I don't want to be a hero or anything. Yes, that person is the real hero who has done national service.
Karan Thapar: The whistleblower?
Arun Shourie: Yes.
Karan Thapar: Can you reveal his name?
Arun Shourie: No. You can't imagine the threats under which he is living today.
Karan Thapar: Just one question. He must be, I presume, a government servant and an insider who knows the details.
Arun Shourie: Yes absolutely. There were two persons only there.
Karan Thapar: He was one of the two people who knew the full story?
Arun Shourie: Full story. And he has all the papers. He has the calling cards. When did Balwa come? Through whom did he come? Everything.
Karan Thapar: What about this? For at least a year, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have been accusing not only the prime minister of a cover-up but even suggesting a possibility of involvement. You had proof that at least of cover-up the PM can be accused and you didn't make the proof available.
Arun Shourie: The BJP knows what I knew.
Karan Thapar: The BJP knows what you knew? Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley know this?
Arun Shourie: I don't want to talk about BJP's internal meeting but it is certainly my assessment that they were not interested in following these things.
Karan Thapar: Even the BJP wasn't interested?
Arun Shourie: No.
Karan Thapar: The BJP had dynamite and they weren't interested in following it up?
Arun Shourie: That's true. That's unfortunately true.
No comments:
Post a Comment