Welcoming the judgment, chief spokesman of the BJP Ravishankar Prasad said it is evident that the Government knew that the appointment of P J Thomas “because of his tainted record” would give rise to controversy.
“Yet, it went about appointing him in a very determined manner. Obviously, there was a design behind this determination. The surrounding circumstances are too suspicious”, he said.
Prasad said Thomas as telecom secretary had commented that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was not authorised to looked into 2G issue saying “it is a policy matter.”
Reminding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about his comment that ‘Ceasar’s wife must be above suspicion’, the BJP leader said “the nation has the right to know as to on what benchmark the Prime Minister is going to judge himself.”
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Sighvi who addressed the press conference shortly after Prasad had finished, said “an error has been set aright” by the highest court of the land. He said the government bows before the court’s ruling and rejected the arguments that it was an indictment of the UPA-2. On CVC’s status after the court’s judgment, he said the apex court’s verdict stands and refused to elaborate it.
The Congress leader said it was incorrect to “politicise” the issue. He denied that Prime Minister has any “moral responsibility” flowing from the judgment.
Reacting to the judgment, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury demanded an explanation from the Prime Minister on the matter. “'The prime minister needs to answer in parliament how they went ahead despite all the facts known to everybody. Even the leader of opposition objected. They have to answer,” said.
Communist Party of India leader D Raja said that it was a blow to the government. “It was a government elected CVC because the main opposition party was opposed to it. It is a blow to the government,” said Raja.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the CPM Polit Bureau said, “With this judgment of the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister and the government stand exposed to the charge that they are not concerned with ensuring the integrity of the CVC or fighting corruption in high places.”
“The manner in which the former telecom secretary was appointed as the CVC is directly related to how the UPA government handled the 2G spectrum scam. The Prime Minister has reiterated in Parliament that there was nothing wrong with the telecom policy as such and only there were problems in implementation. With such a blinkered view, the appointment of P J Thomas, ignoring his record, is part of the piece”.
Terming it a victory of movement against corruption, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav demanded the resignation of the Home Minister.