Charges on telecom scam baseless: Paswan

KOLKATA, APRIL 5. The Union Minister for Communications, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, today said charges against the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that it was involved in a telecom scam were ``baseless and totally false''.

Earlier in the day, the Congress(I) chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, alleged that the PMO was involved in a Rs. 13,000-crore telecom scam and demanded a thorough probe. He said the Telecom Department favoured a particular company, which was involved in the recent stock market scam, as no licence fee was taken from the corporate entity.

Mr. Paswan, who was in the city, said Mr. Dasmunshi was ``not in the know of things'' and that the Telecom Department had been transparent enough in all its commercial dealings.

He said no company would be spared and all necessary dues would be recovered.

Defending the `first-come, first-serve' basis while granting the letter of intent, the Minister said that if this was not done, the Opposition would say that the Government was delaying the entire process.

The Union Minister of State for Communication, Mr. Tapan Sikdar, termed the Congress allegation as an ``election stunt''.

He, however, accepted that irregularities did happen in Telecom Ministry which were immediately rectified. He said ``Mr. Dasmunshi had not brought any specific case to which I can reply''.

Mr. Dasmunshi alleged that the NDA Government had issued a Rs. 14,000-crore letter of intent for mobile phones at a throwaway price without informing the House.

He said in a release here that the letter of intent was issued only at Rs. 1,100 crores. Claiming that the PMO was involved in the ``clandestine deal'', Mr. Dasmunshi urged the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to ask the CBI to confiscate all relevant documents in this connection.

- PTI, UNI

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