New Delhi,
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday hit out at the Congress for “shedding crocodile tears” over BSNL and MTNL and accused the previous party-led UPA government of being responsible for the poor condition of the two state-run telecom giants. Addressing the Lok Sabha in her reply to the discussion on the Union Budget, she said the Congress-led UPA had “made all the preparations” to make the two telecom companies poor. She said that the two companies are now witnessing revival, thanks to measures taken by the Modi government.
Sitharaman said that in 2014 February, before the Modi government came to power, there was a proposal before the UPA government for annual financial support to BSNL and MTNL, but the then government did not provide the support. “The financial support decision was postponed, and instead it (government) took Rs 11,000 crore from them,” she said. She also alleged the Congress government delayed the tendering process for purchase of critical equipment. “Because they don't speak the truth, they can't face the truth,” she lashed out. She said there were several delays in the tendering process for line process expansion for BSNL, in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and finally the proposal was dumped.
Giving a picture of the decline, Sitharaman said that in 2005 the market share of BSNL was 19 percent, which dropped to 7.9 percent due to the “non cooperative measures” of the UPA. “Their intentions were not good, and it landed the companies in almost death bed,” she added. She said the Modi government gave Rs 69,000 crore, and later Rs 8,500 crore and Rs 6,500 crore as sovereign guarantee. The Modi government also paid back all the high interest loans taken under the Congress-led UPA. “Today they are shedding crocodile tears” for the two companies, she lashed out. Sitharaman also said that the UPA took no measures to give 4G to the two telecom companies and now the Modi government is spending Rs 24,000 crore to give 4G to the two companies, “which is 10 years late”. Another move by the Modi government has been to promote mandatory usage of BSNL and MTNL by all government bodies, for which an office memorandum has been sent.