Sibal should not run away from reality: BJP

New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday hit out at Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for defending the government on 2G issue following the Supreme Court judgement, saying he should not run away from reality and insisted that the Prime Minister was very much in the know of the decisions taken by his ministers.

"It was a command performance by Kapil Sibal. 122 licenses have been cancelled by the court. But he maintains that had the Prime Minister known, he would have acted. Sibal is a senior minister of the government of India. People expect him to do his homework well and not run so far away from reality," BJP Chief Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Taking on Sibal on his contention that it was the NDA policy which UPA had adopted, Prasad said if the NDA policy was wrong why did the apex court not quash any of the licenses given at that time.

Citing a series of correspondence between Prime Minister Singh and then Telecom Minister A Raja on the 2G issue, the opposition party said Singh was aware of the goings-on and had even advised the minister not to take any wrong decision.

"Is it not a fact that Singh wrote a letter on November 2, 2007 to Raja raising issues related to fairness and transparency in spectrum allocation criteria and asked him to convey his stand before any further action?" Prasad said.

The BJP also referred to Raja's reply on November 2, 2007 and December 26, 2007. The party alleged that Raja had used "untenable facts" and sought shelter in the discussion with then External Affairs Minister and the Solicitor General to take proactive and pre-emptive measures.

Prasad insisted that the Prime Minister can ask for any file and stop any decision "but Singh did not intervene. The country is entitled to know why no action was taken."

The BJP maintained that the issue here is not of the NDA policy but the manner in which the 2G spectrum licenses were given by Raja's ministry. Prasad said the fact that only 45 minutes were given to get bank drafts is a case in point.

"For two and a half years, a senior minister was engaged in wrong-doing but no action was taken against him," Prasad said.

Asked about Sibal's comments that BJP should apologise for its faulty policy, Prasad said it was the union minister who had misled the nation with his statements on Thursday and should apologise to the nation.

"In 2001 there were only four million subscribers and in 2007-08, there were 350 million," Prasad said.

The BJP also clarified that it was not questioning the honesty of the Prime Minister but his accountability in the whole issue has to be fixed as the scam took place when he was occupying the top post and was aware of the developments.

"Any idea of PMO without PM is unthinkable," Prasad said.

The opposition party also alleged that Congress members had created hurdles in the functioning of the PAC when its chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi tried to expose this corruption.

The BJP insisted that Chidambaram cannot continue in office after his culpability in the allocation has been established.

"Is it not a fact that instead of accepting this sound advice, Chidambaram wrote to the Prime Minister on January 15, 2008 that spectrum already allocated be treated as a closed chapter and auction be adopted for future?" Prasad said.