New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS) A special CBI court in Delhi Saturday dismissed Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy’s plea to make P. Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, spelling huge relief for the home minister.
Here are the key quotes –
Judge O.P. Saini: “There is no material on record to suggest that Mr. Chidambaram was acting with such corrupt or illegal motives or was in abuse of his official position, while consenting to the two decisions. There is no evidence that he obtained any pecuniary advantage without any public interest.”
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee: “It is a good judgment and it is a relief because unnecessarily somebody was persecuted.”
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal: “The truth can never be hidden. The fact is Chidambaram, who is a valued colleague, we knew all along that he was not responsible in any way either directly or indirectly and that these allegations were being made for political motives. He (Swamy) can appeal in the high court, in the Supreme Court and then in the end, he can appeal to god.”
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy: “I think this order deserves to be reversed, therefore I will go to the high court, and then from the high court to the Supreme Court. Both Chidambaram and (former telecom minister A.) Raja together made the decisions.”
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad: “This is the order of the very first court. There are other hierarchy of courts also. As far as political accountability of Chidambaram in view of overwhelming evidence there in public domain, the BJP shall continue to insist for that accountability – inside and outside the parliament.”
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu: “The final word in the matter has not been said. The prime minister must explain to the people why there was a (2G) policy failure.”
Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Shekar Roy: “We don’t want to comment on the judgment because the matter is still sub judice and the petitioner has the option of approaching the higher court. The picture of the whole case is still not clear. But the way the court has cancelled 122 telecom licences, it shows that something was seriously wrong in the their distribution. We want the guilty to be identified and prosecuted. The guilty should be punished irrespective of political colour.”
