Manmohan under pressure over $40b scandal
Saturday, 20 November 2010
NEW DELHI, Nov 19, (Agencies): India's parliament adjourned in uproar Friday over a massive corruption scandal that has ensnared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose popularity partly resides in his "Mr Clean" image.
India's chief auditing body ignited a firestorm earlier this week when it announced that the botched sale of 2G telecom licences in 2008 at a small fraction of their value had cost the country up to 40 billion dollars.
Ahead of the announcement, tainted Telecom Minister A. Raja, whose ministry was raided by police in October last year, was finally persuaded to step down after his position became untenable.
The opposition has been blocking parliamentary business all week, calling for an all-party investigation into the scandal. Proceedings were adjourned on Friday until next week after angry MPs stormed the well of the house.
Meanwhile, India's Supreme Court has directed PM Manmohan Singh to explain his "alleged inaction" in failing to sanction the prosecution of a former minister. Telecommunications Minister A Raja has resigned over allegations he undersold mobile phone licences worth billions of dollars. He denies the claims.
In India, the prosecution of a cabinet minister has to be cleared by the prime minister.
The court said Singh had failed to reply to a request to approve the prosecution of Raja, a low-caste politician from a regional party that is in the coalition government headed by Singh's Congress party. "The telecom scam is the most serious crisis faced by the government in the last six years," respected political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan told AFP, referring to the start of the present coalition in 2004.
"It has now become a question of credibility."
Opposition parties say Raja, who presided over the world's fastest-growing mobile market, gifted the lucrative wireless spectrum licences to firms that he favoured.
India's chief auditing body ignited a firestorm earlier this week when it announced that the botched sale of 2G telecom licences in 2008 at a small fraction of their value had cost the country up to 40 billion dollars.
Ahead of the announcement, tainted Telecom Minister A. Raja, whose ministry was raided by police in October last year, was finally persuaded to step down after his position became untenable.
The opposition has been blocking parliamentary business all week, calling for an all-party investigation into the scandal. Proceedings were adjourned on Friday until next week after angry MPs stormed the well of the house.
Meanwhile, India's Supreme Court has directed PM Manmohan Singh to explain his "alleged inaction" in failing to sanction the prosecution of a former minister. Telecommunications Minister A Raja has resigned over allegations he undersold mobile phone licences worth billions of dollars. He denies the claims.
In India, the prosecution of a cabinet minister has to be cleared by the prime minister.
The court said Singh had failed to reply to a request to approve the prosecution of Raja, a low-caste politician from a regional party that is in the coalition government headed by Singh's Congress party. "The telecom scam is the most serious crisis faced by the government in the last six years," respected political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan told AFP, referring to the start of the present coalition in 2004.
"It has now become a question of credibility."
Opposition parties say Raja, who presided over the world's fastest-growing mobile market, gifted the lucrative wireless spectrum licences to firms that he favoured.