The main Opposition BJP on Monday termed Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar’s report on Isro-Devas deal as a “glaring lapse of the political leadership of the party presently ruling the nation”.
The party claimed the report which was recently submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was an effort to hide the truth. The party demanded Prime Minister should come clean on the issue.
Speaking on the issue, BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Prime Minister should come clear on his role in the Isro-Devas deal and fix responsibility, saying that the space department comes directly under him and the government cannot get away by merely calling the agreement a “procedural lapse”.
“The Cabinet secretary’s report to the Prime Minister calls the Antrix-Devas deal a procedural lapse. We feel this was a glaring lapse of the political leadership of the party presently ruling the nation,” Mr Prasad said.
The party alleged the deal caused “loss of public face” of the government and if the media and the Opposition had not raised the issue, the Congress-led government would never have cancelled the agreement. “This whole Isro and the Department of Space comes under the Prime Minister. If this was a procedural lapse what were you (the PM) doing. The Cabinet secretary, minister of state in PMO Prithviraj Chavan, space secretary and others sit there,” Mr Prasad said.
The party demanded that Prime Minister should tell the nation who all are responsible and what was his role in the lapses in the deal.