New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reacting to the 2G scam verdict, said the “judgment speak(s) in itself (sic)”. Singh, whose credibility had come under doubt over the scams unearthed during the UPA II rule, said there was a “vicious campaign and propaganda” launched against his government back then.
“Today court has taken an unanimous decision over this issue,” Singh added.
Earlier today, Delhi’s Patiala House Court acquitted all of the accused in the high-profile 2G scam case, a fraud ranked by the Time magazine as the world’s second-biggest abuse of power.
According to an estimate prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, the scam caused a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the Indian exchequer. Then Telecom Minister A Raja was the prime accused in the 2G scam case.
Following the verdict today, the Congress has gone on the offensive, saying it is a moral and legal victory for them and that those who had raised accusations against the UPA government should apologise.
Congress leaders came out hitting soon after the verdict was announced at around 10:45 am. Kapil Sibal, who took over as telecom minister after Raja’s resignation, said, “This verdict is both a moral and legal victory for the Congress Party. We will take this issue up in Parliament.”
He also demanded an apology from the Bharatiya Janata Party, without explicitly naming the part and said PM Narendra Modi must now stop bringing up scams during his speeches.
P Chidambaram, on the other hand, said the verdict showed the allegations of a “major scam involving the highest levels of government” were never true. “That has been established today.”
Leaders from the BJP, who had used the 2G scam, along with other corruption allegations, to target the Manmohan Singh government during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls were yet to react on the verdict.
The Congress was routed in the Lok Sabha polls and the dagger of corruption hanging over the UPA II was believed to be one of the factors behind the Grand Old Party’s poor performance.
