Govt. dead serious to bring to book all wrongdoers: Manmohan

PTI

New Delhi, 16 February 2011: Addressing editors of the electronic media, Prime Minister Manmohan on Wednesday said the government is dead serious to bring to book all the wrongdoers regardless of their position in 2G spectrum, CWG, ISRO and Adarsh scams.

 

In his initial remarks, before fielding questions from the editors on issues ranging from the scams to the Parliament impasse, Dr. Singh said, "Parliament has not been allowed to function for reasons I am not able to understand, we are making honest efforts to see the next session will be an orderly session.""

 

To a question why A. Raja was inducted in the UPA II Cabinet, the Prime Minister said: "Complaints were coming in (against Mr. Raja), but I was not in a position to make up my mind if anything was seriously wrong."

 

He further said: "In allocation of 2G spectrum, the issue of licences were never brought to me or the Cabinet."

 

Dr. Singh said he had conveyed to Mr. Raja the concerns over 2G spectrum issue but did not press further for auction after the Ministries of Telecom and Finance agreed to go by the prevailing system of first-come first-served basis.

 

Parliament impasse

 

Turning to the issue of the Parliament deadlock, the Prime Minister said that talks were going on with the Opposition. "Whatever differences we have with the Opposition, Parliament should be allowed to function," he said.

 

Dr. Singh said that there was no danger of any inner tension leading to the break-up of the coalition. "Our allies are with us whole-heartedly," he said.

 

Cabinet reshuffle

 

"After the Budget Session of Parliament, there will be a restructuring of the Cabinet," the Prime Minister said.

 

Inflation concerns

 

Dr. Singh said the government is trying to strike a balance between growth and inflation, despite the government having no control over international events, which are partly fuelling the price rise.

 

Exuding confidence that inflation will fall to 7 per cent by March-end, Dr. Singh said the government was trying to tackle the situation without hurting growth, which he pegged at around 8.5 per cent for the entire fiscal.

 

“By the end of this (fiscal) year, inflation rate should come down to no more than 7 per cent,” he said.

 

He said inflation, particularly that of food, has been a major concern in recent months, but the government was trying to deal the situation without hurting growth prospects.

 

Food inflation has been hovering above 15 per cent in the past few months before falling to 13.07 per cent in the last week of January.

 

Dr. Singh said the government is trying its best to deal with inflation, but “we don’t have at our disposal” instruments to insulate the Indian economy from international events such as the developments in Egypt, which have resulted in spiralling crude oil prices.

 

“We don’t have control over international events... oil prices are rising, food prices are also rising,” Dr. Singh said.

 

Commenting on economic growth, Dr. Singh said India has done well to come out of the aftermath of the global financial crisis and “our economy is in a good shape. We will have a growth rate of 8.5 per cent this fiscal year.”