By claiming that according to his arithmetic the losses in the 2G spectrum allocation scam were only Rs 2,645 crore, former CAG official RP Singh has spawned two new debates.

Is he a Congress pawn, as the BJP was quick to claim?

Is the CAG, Vinod Rai, a BJP pawn, as the Congress was just as quick to allude, but not allege?

Then, of course, there’s the old question in a new avatar: So what exactly was the loss incurred by the exchequer in dumped minister A Raja’s spectrum allocation scam? A mere Rs 2,645 crore, as was Singh’s “calculations”, Rs 30,000 crore as claimed by the Central Bureau of Investigation  in the Supreme Courtor, Rs 1.76 lakh crore, as is Vinod Rai’s presumption or just "zilch" as Kapil Sibal wants us to believe?

Never the one to shy away from a quotable quote, Congress spokesperson and and information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari was off the block like Ussain Bolt. Hours after Times Now channel outed the story outed by the The Indian Express this morning (LINK) about the presumptive loss mismatch between Singh and Rai, Tewari this morning said: “What is extremely important is that in May 2010, when the draft report is prepared by RP Singh, the loss is quantified at Rs 2,645 crore. But in November 2010 (when) the report is presented before the parliament, the loss jumps to Rs 1.76 lakh crore.”

Implying that Murli Manohar Joshi, the BJP MP and parliamentary accounts committee (PAC) chairman, whom Rai and his teammates allegedly met before the final CAG report was tabled in Parliament, Tewari asked, “Who is responsible for the 2G loss figure in the report?”

In view of her new avatar as rabble-rouser, Congress president Sonia Gandhi also didn’t shy away from taking a jab at the main opposition party, presuming it is down. Asked if Singh's allegations (they are yet to be confirmed as revelations), have backfired on BJP, Gandhi, who repeatedly batted on the front foot during the washed-out monsoon session of Parliament, told reporters outside Parliament, "Looks like it".

"The BJP stands exposed on the issue of 2G auctions," she said.

The BJP hit back by accusing RP Singh of being a "pawn" in the hands of the government. "This public comment by retired CAG officer RP Singh is a very sinister conspiracy. He is a pawn in the hands of Congress and government to defame the CAG," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters outside Parliament, as it stood adjourned for the second day running.

"He kept quiet for one whole year. He presented the report on 2G before JPC (but) does not say anything. He appeared before PAC (but) does not say anything," Prasad said.

About Singh’s allegation that the CAG official met PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi at the latter's residence, Prasad said, "Meetings between the PAC chairman and CAG officer are a routine thing because they report to the PAC."

Today’s Indian Express report quotes Singh saying CAG officials had visited Joshi’s residence on the Good Friday holiday on April 22, 2011. “I got to know from my team members that CAG officials including senior CAG officials from headquarters went to the PAC chairman’s residence and assisted him in preparing the PAC report. I cannot say with certainty what exactly transpired at the meeting,” Singh told the paper.

On the CAG’s report, Singh said: “This was not my report. It was CAG’s (the institution’s) report. What can I do as a subordinate when the CAG (Vinod Rai) has issued written instructions on how he wants the report? I sent a report which calculated a loss of Rs 2,645 crore. This was on May 31, 2010. After this my audit team was attached with CAG headquarters under Deputy CAG Rekha Gupta. I was not involved in the inclusion of auditing the Ministry of Finance. In July 2010, I was sent a heavily revised report, and asked to issue (it) to the Ministry of Finance and Department of Telecommunication. There was little I could do when I got a written instruction.”

The PAC had been examining the 2G issue since 2008, while Joshi became the PAC chairman two years later. The CAG report, tabled in Parliament on November 16, 2010, put the presumptive loss from spectrum allocation between Rs 57,666 crore and Rs 1.76 lakh crore.