"Congress should not be elated", says Rajiv Chandrasekhar

The Congress should not be elated over the 2G scam verdict as the matter of prosecuting "criminal conspirators is still open," Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday. He said he was not "disappointed" with the acquittal of former Telecom minister A Raja and DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi.

Former telecom minister A Raja

"Also Congress should not be so much elated, because the matter of prosecuting criminal conspirators is still open as the investigating agencies, CBI and ED, have already decided to move courts," the MP told PTI here. He said though the CBI court has not been able to establish criminal conspiracy cases against the acquitted persons, it has not overruled the Supreme Court's February 2012 verdict terming the allotment of spectrum as illegal.

"The Supreme Court has already established wrongdoings of the then UPA government in allotment of 2G spectrum in 2012. So, what the CBI court judge is saying is that CBI and ED, have been unable to create a enough legitimate case against the accused," he said. "That could mean many things - that the investigating agencies have not furnished the evidence and prosecuted the case properly. I don't think matter of prosecuting the criminal conspiracy is over," he said.

The apex court also had cancelled the licenses of the companies too, he said. Chandrasekhar, in 2007, had raised the issue and questioned the then UPA government's decision to allot 2G spectrum without calling for tenders. To a query on Congress leaders demanding apology from prime minister Narendra Modi for BJP's "propaganda" against the party following the acquittal, the MP said it should be the Congress who must apologise to stakeholders and others.

"Hundreds of employees, banks and other stakeholders should stand in front of the Congress office and demand apology from them for illegally allocating 2G spectrum which affected their businesses and jobs," he said. The MP said the Congress expects people to forget the apex court judgment in February 2012 "They expect people to forget everything about this scam, including the windfall gains companies got. This is not going to happen. We have a very active media and social media, and they would get to the truth, any how," he said.