IANS/New Delhi

 

He stirred a hornet’s nest with his explosive audit report on the allocation of 2G telecom spectrum, but former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai is sticking to his guns, saying leadership in the Congress government was “very loose,” with parties pulling in different directions, but is dominant in the current Bharatiya Janata Party regime.

Rai, whose book Not Just An Accountant was released earlier this month, said the bureaucracy has a greater sense of participation in the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rai, who was the CAG during 2008-13, said there is a feeling among civil servants that they are being heard more now.

“They certainly have a greater sense of participation in the government. They now don’t have a GOM (group of ministers) or an EGOM (empowered group of ministers) sitting on top of them. There is a secretary and there is a minister which is the hierarchical procedure. They feel they are being heard more,” Rai said.

He also lauded Modi’s initiative to interact directly with top civil servants.

“I have a feeling it gives the officers some strength to their elbow.”

Asked about the difference between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, Rai said he cannot make the distinction as he was not in the government to know its working.

However, he said the NDA appeared to have a leadership which is dominant.

“It seems there is dominance of leadership. But the way it is manifested (in government), I really can’t comment because I don’t have insider knowledge.”

Rai said he had thought that the April-May Lok Sabha polls would throw up a hung parliament.

Asked how much his reports were responsible for the defeat of the UPA, he said they had initiated a debate. He said that factors that contributed to the UPA’s defeat included corruption and “total failure of governance.”

He said parties that comprised the coalition in the second term of the UPA government (2009-14) were pulling in different directions and probably were not getting into a cohesive mode.

“It is very important for coalition politics to have one or two binding factors. May be a leader, may be political leadership. That leadership seems to have been very loose.”

Rai said he was addressing the young generation through his book as they want the government to be more accountable for its actions.

“The younger generation today is a very aware generation, very discerning and very demanding and they time and again want their viewpoint to be heard. They want the government to be accountable for its actions. That generation is what I am addressing. And I am trying to tell them in very simple language that the future for us is only if we consolidate on our governance,” he said.

Rai said that governance should be ethical, there should be transparency in decision-making and those taking decisions should be accountable.

The former CAG said that he had taken five case studies in his book, including the 2G spectrum allocation, and they reflected “different kinds of failures.” He said the facts had been gleaned from audit reports.

Asked about the responsibility of then prime minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy, Rai said if he had answered the letter of then communications minister A Raja in a different way, the fate of UPA would probably have been different.

“To the extent that he was being informed of everything is very clear. Why he chose to take the decisions that he chose to take, that nobody has been able to find.”

Rai said the UPA government could have taken correctives when the 2G controversy broke out.

“Instead of trying to justify, they should have said let’s tone up governance, take remedial steps.”