"The loss has been caused to the government.Chidambaram was a part of the decision-making process. He is constitutionallyaccountable, remains politically accountable and that is what we are seekinginside Parliament and will continue to seek in JPC," BJP's chiefspokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He said this in the backdrop of the Supreme Court todaydismissing a plea for making him a co-accused in the 2G case, saying there wasno prima facie material against him of any criminal conspiracy or procuring ofany pecuniary gain.
Highlighting the huge difference in the pricing of 2GSpectrum in 2008 and 2012, Prasad said this showed that there was a loss to thegovernment.
He said Chidambaram was very much a part of the decision-making process in fixing the Spectrum price along with A Raja"disregarding" the advice of Finance Ministry's officials forauctioning the Spectrum.
"It is well known that the base price of 2G in 2008 wasdetermined at Rs 1,600-odd crores disregarding the advice of Finance Ministryofficials to go for auction. In 2012, when the market conditions are adversethe base price of 2G Spectrum has been fixed at Rs 14,000 crore by a Group ofMinisters headed by Chidambaram.
"Certainly I would like to know and highlight this forthe country that has the country suffered a revenue loss or not in 2008, assaid by Finance Ministry officials, that a proper bidding procedure should havebeen adopted. Therefore, the loss has been caused to the government,"Prasad maintained.
On the Supreme Court judgement in 2G case, Prasad said,"The Hon'ble Supreme Court has given a judgement and I have nothingparticular to say about the judgement except that we will go through the entireorder. But certain issues are quite glaring which need to be highlighted."
He said, "Chidambaram as the Finance minister wasinvolved along with the then Telecom Minister A Raja in the determination of 2GSpectrum pricing. Dr Manmohan Singh in Parliament in our presence has statedthat Raja and Chidambaram came on the same page with regard to spectrumpricing. I accepted that."
