Congress welcomes annulment of ISRO-Devas deal

Congress today welcomed the annulment of the S-Band spectrum deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and Devas  Multimedia, saying that the decision was taken in national interest amid apprehensions about loss to the exchequer.

"If goverment has taken a decision in its wisdom in the national interest, it should be welcomed by all. If there were apprehensions that there will be loss to national exchequer with this deal, the decision (of scrapping it) should be welcomed by all," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.

The decision of annulment taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) today came in the wake of a raging controversy over the deal for handing over 70 Mhz of S-Band spectrum to the private firm for Rs1,000 crore on which the CAG has already initiated action.

Ahmed also reacted strongly to Gujarat chief minister arendra Modi's scathing attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying his remark on Amit Shah was the "biggest joke of 2011".

In a veiled reference to Shah during his interaction with TV editors yesterday, Singh said, "The opposition parties, particularly BJP has taken a hostile attitude and the reasons that have been given frankly I cannot mention it in public... because you have taken some decision against a particular person, who was a minister in Gujarat, you must reverse it. I don't want to add further."

Describing Modi's attack on the prime minister over the issue as unfortunate, the Congress spokesperson questioned, "Does the opposition to GST in all BJP-ruled states to defend a person accused in fake encounter mean that the entire BJP was involved in fake encounter?"

Modi has said,"the prime minister tried to associate Gujarat in his press conference to wash off the stains on himself. This is the joke of the year 2011. This is laughable adding instead of blaming any minister from Gujarat or the state government, the prime minister should give true facts about his failures before the people of India."