Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal's charge that the National Democratic Alliance government's change of telecom policy in 1999 had resulted in a loss of a whopping Rs 1.43 lakh, has evoked strong response from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sibal, who is also looking after the telecom ministry, claimed that change of telecom policy by the then communication minister Pramod Mahajan in 1999 from the auction model to the revenue share model eventually led to the first come first serve controversy of 2001.
Slamming the charge, BJP leader Tarun Vijay told rediff.com, "It is an afterthought too late. It is a belated attempt to defend the indefensible. If I have to put it modestly, it can be termed as a crude joke played on the people of India. It is a joke on the probity."
Vijay added that the Congress party was now trying to confuse the issue.
"The issue is before the public and under preview is the loss of Rs 1.76 lakh thousand crore during the Congress rule. How can they sell the rights in 2008 at 2001 rates," he argued.
"Congress has perfected this art to precision," he added.
The issue is likely to come up at the public rally where top BJP leadership led by L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, party chief Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley would share the dais with Janata Dal United leaders Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar.
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