Jaitley not acting as FM but as corporate lawyer: Congress

New Delhi, July 9 (ANI): The Congress Party on Saturday responded to Arun Jaitley's Facebook post, wherein he had described the allegations of a staggering Rs.45000-crore telecom scam, as a mere case of "Empty Rhetoric", saying the latter was sounding more like a lawyer of corporation than as the nation's finance minister. Responding to Jaitley's Facebook post, wherein he had described the Congress charge as a mere case of "Empty Rhetoric", party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, in a series of tweets under the title 'Blog of Falsehood V/S Truth alone', said that the finance minister wrote a long blog, adding that it was short on truth and facts. "Mr. Arun Jaitley wrote a long blog, but it was short on truth and facts. Our simple summation: why is Modi Govt. refusing to believe the CAG? Instead of thanking the UPA for ordering CAG audit and exposing corporate malfeasance, Mr. Arun Jaitley is criticizing us. Intriguing!" he said. "Mr. Jaitley you were law minister during NDA-1 and are finance minister now. Did you ever order a CAG audit like the UPA did? Why not? The CAG audit has Supreme Court sanction. Modi Govt. cannot dodge facts by blowing a fake spin. India is watching," he added. The Congress spokesperson also asked Jaitley on what basis has Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made the outrageous claim that there is no under-reporting of income from 2010-16? "Mr. Jaitley forgot to answer the most important question-Why do you want to conduct a 'special audit' by CA's over a CAG report? Instead of standing up as a trustee of our finances as Finance Minister, Mr. Jaitley you are sounding more like a lawyer for corporate," he added. In a Facebook post, Jaitley said that the Congress Party has run out of ideas. "It has perfected the art of scoring self-goals. The latest example is the Press Conference that its Spokesperson held on 7th July 2016 alleging a telecom scam of Rs.46,000 crores. Under the well established policy of Government of India, telecom service providers pay to the Government of India license fee and spectrum user charges on a revenue sharing basis," he said. "A CAG Report of February 2016 has stated that the six telephone providers, between the period 2006-07 to 2009-10, have under reported their revenues to the extent of Rs.46,000 crores, thereby depleting the share of the Union Government in license fee and spectrum user charges by about Rs.5000 crores," he added. The Finance Minister further informed that the CAG report was received by the Telecom Department in February this year and its supporting documents were received in June 2016. "The same are now being scrutinized so that the telecom department can take further action in the matter. As per Parliamentary procedure, the CAG Report is now pending before the Public Accounts Committee," he said. "The pertinent question is how is this a scam of the NDA Government? The under reporting by the telecom service providers relates to the period when UPA was in power. The UPA Government, under its very nose, allowed this under reporting. The Final CAG report pointed it out in February 2016 and only 3 weeks ago have the documents been sent by the CAG to the Telecom Department. Notwithstanding the fact that the issue is pending before the PAC, the Telecom Department, which is processing these documents, will take action. What is act of omission and commission by the present Government? An impropriety took place during the UPA Government for which the present Government will take action," he added. Jaitley further said that the baseless allegations indicated at the pathetic plight of the Congress Party. "The question, however, is the pathetic plight of the Congress party. Notwithstanding the fact that this impropriety took place during the UPA Government, the Congress Spokesman made an empty noise about this being an NDA Telecom Scam. Shrillness, non-application of mind and a belligerent rhetoric seem to be the strategy of the Congress party. It is a pity that the Party has been pushed to this desperation," he said. (ANI)