After going hammer and tongs at home minister P Chidambaram over 2G spectrum scam, the BJP has now trained guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a letter written to him by former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran asking him to stay off the spectrum pricing issue.

The letter allegedly suggests that it was the Prime Minister himself who had allowed the telecom ministry to keep spectrum pricing out of the terms of reference of the Group of Ministers in 2006.

In January 2006, the PM had approved, in principle, a GoM to look into the release of additional spectrum from the defence ministry for private telecom players. The group’s terms of reference included the issue of pricing of scarce 2G spectrum.

The GoM was supposed to submit its recommendations in June 2006, after which the government was to decide a policy and price for selling the spectrum.

Prime Minister met Dayanidhi Maran on February 1 and then he allegedly allowed the Telecom Ministry to keep out of 2G pricing.