Ratan Tata hits back, drags BJP into 2G scam-PTI, Dec 9, 2010,

Tata slams Rajeev Chandrasekhar and GSM operators

PTI, Dec 9, 2010, 12.01pm IST


Ratan Tata hits back, drags BJP into 2G scam

NEW DELHI: Tata Group supremo Ratan Tata on Thursday termed as "politically motivated" the efforts of the GSM lobbyists, including Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, saying their endeavour was to embarrass the Prime Minster Manmohan Singh and the ruling party.

Taking the powerful GSM operators head on for what he termed as holding of spectrum free of cost, Tata said, "Recent policy (allocation of licences in 2008) broke the powerful cartel which has been holding back competition and delaying the implementation of policies."

Coming out in support of the government telecom policy, which is being litigated in the Supreme Court, Tata said, "We should all note that many of the flip-flops in the telecom policies occurred during the BJP regime."

Tata's strong comments came in an open letter to former telecom entrepreneur and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar who had hit out Tata for allegedly not being transparent and being one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government telecom policy.

"Your affiliation to a particular political party is well-known and it appears that political aspirations and their endeavour to embarrass the Prime Minister and the ruling party may well have been the motivation behind your letter". Tata told Chandrasekhar.

Former Telecom Minister A Raja or for that matter any minister has not extended any advantage to group company Tata Teleservices, he said.

He further noted that the government auditor the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has not ascribed any value to 48 new GSM licences issued to incumbents during 2004-2008 and 65 mhz of additional spectrum.