Congress and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders traded barbs on Twitter, after a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Thursday acquitted all 18 accused, including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi, in the alleged the multi-thousand crore rupee 2G spectrum allocation scandal.
The man behind the 2G spectrum expose, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, said that the government must approach High Court against the acquittal of all accused in the 2G spectrum scam case.
Govt must prove its bonafides by filing an immediate appeal in High Court
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) December 21, 2017
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitey slammed the Congress for celebrating the 2G verdict and said that the judgment was not a proof of UPA’s innocence and should in no way be treated as a “badge of honour.”
The #2GScam is not a certificate for the 2G allocation policy being an honest policy. The Supreme Court in 2012 had upheld the policy as corrupt, dishonest, arbitrary, unfair & intended to cause loss to the exchequer. All 2G license allocations were quashed : Shri @arunjaitley pic.twitter.com/RmUKpzwlJV
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 21, 2017
Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Rajvardhan Rathore in a series of tweets, said that UPA 2G allotment policy was dishonest, arbitrary, unfair, promoting corruption and intended to cause loss to the nation was already established by SC in 2012
Lastly, Congress should stop treating #2GScamVerdict as a certificate of character or a badge of honor. The CAG report, the SC verdict of 2012 and the subsequent prices fetched by auction have well established the incompetence and corruption of the Congress.
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) December 21, 2017
Congress leader Kapil Sibal wrote on Twitter saying that “My position vindicated” and “After the 2G judgement by the Special Court” it is “0 gain for BJP”.
After the 2G judgement by the Special Court
0 gain for BJPMy position vindicated
— Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) December 21, 2017
Congress party spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted the section of the verdict and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP party Twitter handle, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and asked them to “apologise” to the “country for cheating this nation”.
She also asked the BJP to apologise for “stalling Parliament for years, slowing down India’s growth story”.
Cc @arunjaitley @BJP4India @ArvindKejriwal @amitshah @narendramodi this is part of the verdict. Do read and apologise to the country for cheating this nation for your power hungry politics. #TruthPrevails #UPANotGuilty pic.twitter.com/0O2AKHFvHU
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) December 21, 2017
Will BJP now apologise to the nation for stalling parliament for years, slowing down India’s growth story, levelling baseless accusations against the then government for BJP’s hunger to be in power at any cost? Shame on their power hungry politics #2GScamVerdict
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) December 21, 2017
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted on the verdict and said, “2G scam is one of the biggest scams” and asked that “Did CBI mess up the case? Intentionally People need answers”.
2G scam is one of the biggest scams. It rocked the country n was one of the reasons for UPA’s downfall. Today everyone goes scot free. Did CBI mess up the case? Intentionally? People need answers
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 21, 2017
President of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee Sanjay Nirupam reacted on Twitter and asked an “apology from former CAG Vinod Rai” and said that “the whole 2G scam was fictitious”, adding that it “was a deliberate attempt to defame Congress party and its allies”.
Nothing less than apology from former CAG Vinod Rai is going to work now. The whole 2G scam figure was fictitious and was a deliberate attempt to defame Congress party and its allies.
After today’s Court verdict Mr Rai shd come out & tender apology publicly.#2GScamVerdict— Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) December 21, 2017
Congress leader Abhished Singhvi also wrote on Twitter, saying, that was Congress govt punished needlessly by the media hype in 2G spectrum scam and added “great victory” for “uninfluenced justice”.
Was cong Govt punished needlessly by media hype on 2G?Ought it to hv exited on this issue? Shd ex CAG apologise?was court monitoring overdone? Shd persecutors apologise to accuses for misleading hype? Great victory 4uninfluenced justice nt scared by media or compulsion to conform
— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) December 21, 2017
However, CBI which probed the alleged 2G scam said that it will study the verdict that has acquitted all the accused and take legal opinion before deciding future course of action, officials said on Thursday.
“We are yet to receive complete judgement. We will study it, take legal opinion and decide future action,” the CBI spokesperson said.