I will prove Chidambaram is a crook: Dr Subramanian Swamy

New Delhi: Times are passé since Dr Subramanian Swamy was referred to as President of the Janata Party. He is now the ‘man of the moment', who has scored in the courts yet again.

In a major embarrassment for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the Supreme Court cancelled all 123 licences for the 2G spectrum allocated in 2008 in what has since become a major corruption scandal.

This happened in response to a plea filed by Swamy.

Swamy also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the role of Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram in the spectrum scam.

"The trial court was free to investigate if it chose to do so," was the Supreme Court's response.

Speaking to Gulf News in an exclusive interview, Swamy said: "I will prove that Chidambaram is a crook."

GULF NEWS: Are you disappointed that the Supreme Court has not directly asked the CBI to probe Chidambaram's role in the 2G spectrum licences case?

SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY: No, everything has gone in my favour. In fact, I have got much more than what I expected.

Because originally I had gone to the Supreme Court saying the trial court cannot decide on a CBI inquiry, because the Supreme Court judgment says that only the High Court and Supreme Court can decide whether the CBI can be asked to investigate.

Now the Supreme Court has authorised the trial court to investigate him.

So what happens next?

I don't need the CBI now. The orders have been reserved and I have argued the matter wholly.

So the court needs to decide either to summon Chidambaram as an accused or say that we want the CBI to conduct an enquiry on the basis of evidence that I have given to the court on record.

It can ask for a police report conducted by the CBI. So, either way Chidambaram will have to resign.

Chidambaram has always had a very clean image. Do you think it will come as a shock to the nation if he is proven guilty?

Chidambaram's mask has been ripped off.

He cannot escape the responsibility and in every aspect of decision-making, he has been a partner of former telecom minister A. Raja.

Knowing his own role, he should have resigned by now.

He is perhaps the most corrupt minister today in the country, even though he may have the image of being honest.

He has the most foreign deposits, a huge amount of land in benami names and he rigs the stock market.

He may have created a good impression for people who don't go into the depth of these matters and through media management that he is honest, but he is not.

But his meetings with Raja could have been customary and not really a basis for corruption...

I have presented all records of his meeting with Raja in the court.

He is more culpable than Raja. 

You had earlier mentioned to Gulf News that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and DMK party chief M. Karunanidhi were also involved in the scam. But why is the focus only on Chidambaram?

That is because I am the only one after it.

I am a private citizen and do not have the machinery of the government in my command.

I cannot handle everything at the same time. I have to take them one by one.

First I needled Raja, then Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi and after that former textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran and now it is Chidambaram.

Once I'm through with him, I'll go after Sonia.

You've claimed to have incriminating evidence against Sonia and her businessman son-in-law Robert Vadra. What makes you hold back?

As I said, I have to go step-by-step.

Once the Chidambaram matter is settled, I will go after others.

Now that the Supreme Court has given an order that you don't need sanctions to initiate inquiries, I might skip Vadra and go straight to Sonia.

It should happen in the next two months.

What will be the fallout of the cancellation of spectrum licences, especially vis-à-vis Etisalat?

Etisalat per se, is a highly professional company.

And I would say that the cancellation of licences should create a good environment that India is not for sale.

And Etisalat did pay the Swan Telecom company a huge amount for the licences.

It's being said that phone prices will shoot up and especially hurt the rural population that does not care about the 2G scam...

This is a bogus argument floated by some people.

There is so much margin in the telecom industry that it is possible to keep the prices low.

And when there's competition, prices are bound to come down.

In fact, the foreign companies should be happy that we don't have to bribe people and they can now do straight business.

What's your take on the reports that the Nira Radia tapes are tampered?

I haven't fully studied the tapes.

But what I heard from my sources, the beginning and the end parts appeared to be tampered.

Now, this could be because somebody was trying to truncate the tapes.

But the in between portions are not doctored. So enough material is there for us to use later on.

You said that Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair and Cabinet Secretary Pulok Chatterjee in the Prime Minister's Office are Sonia's appointees and thus do not support the PM despite deciding on who can and cannot meet him. What's the basis for this accusation?

I am a well-informed person and people complain to me that they cannot meet the PM.

And on many occasions, the PM, who has been a friend for 40 years, has himself asked me where I have been and he has not heard from me.

And this, despite the fact that I have put in requests to meet him. But these did not reach him.

You don't find it strange that no political party has come out to your support for the fight against corruption?

I don't need them. May be they are jealous of me.

I need the public and engage with them when I travel around the country and through tweets and Facebook.