RS MP Rajiv Chandrasekhar hits out at Chidambaram

BJP's Rajya Sabha nominee Rajeev Chandrasekhar today hit out at senior Congress leader P Chidambaram for "blatant attempt" to rewrite the history of the UPA government after failing to act on CAG reports on coal and 2G scams. "It is a blatant attempt to rewrite his (Chidambaram) government's history, which was plagued by several scams including 2G and Common Wealth Games scams, besides coal scam," he told PTI here. Chandrasekhar, who was an independent Rajya Sabha member, today joined the BJP, a day after the party nominated him as its candidate for the March 23 polls to fill four seats to the Upper House of Parliament from Karnataka. At the launch of his book 'Speaking Truth To Power' here yesterday, Chidambaram had said the CAG report on telecom was a "gross exaggeration" and people failed to treat "a business problem as a business problem and find business solution." Chidambaram was wrong in trying to make people believe that it was a private dispute, Chandrasekhar said. As long as it involves public money and assets, it does not amount to a business dispute, he said. Chandrasekhar said Chidambaram and his "elite company," including Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Kapil Sibal, tried to spin different kinds of theories and yarns about 2G and coal scams, but the Supreme Court had intervened and cancelled all licenses. To call the then CAG Vinod Rai, who was appointed during the tenure of UPA government, as someone bad, cannot be digested, the Rajya Sabha MP said. "If they (UPA) think Mr Vinod Rai is such a bad person, then how did they appoint him as CAG? How did they appoint him as finance (banking) secretary under Chidambaram's dispensation," he asked. Chidambaram also had said telecom and power sectors have contributed to NPA problem more than anything else due to the malicious twist given to UPA governments' policies governing them.

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