BJP general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Centre on Sunday for allowing Isro to allocate S-band spectrum to a private firm without competitive bidding.
He said by doing so, the government lost massive revenue, a charge the prime minister (PM) has dismissed.
Prasad wondered how the “credible” PM could justify his government’s functioning and escape accountability. “My simple question to the prime minister is how do you run the government if you were ignorant about the deal,” he said.
The Centre has denied revenue losses in allocation of space spectrum to Devas Multimedia under an agreement with Isro’s commercial arm Antrix, as also special treatment to the private firm.
But Prasad argued, “If it is true, why was competitive bidding given a miss? It is a scam as Devas Multimedia was already awarded the deal in 2005.”
BJP also dragged Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in. Prasad said, “Chavan owes an explanation as he was minister of state in the prime minister’s office (PMO) then. It was his duty to point out irregularities in the deal. If he overlooked the irregularities, he needs to explain.”
