When, in 2010, former Comptroller and Auditor General, Vinod Rai, cited Rs 1.76 lakh crore as the presumptive loss from the allocation of 2G spectrum on first-come-first-served basis, the BJP, in opposition then, had discovered in it a great political opportunity.

New Delhi: When, in 2010, former Comptroller and Auditor General, Vinod Rai, cited Rs 1.76 lakh crore as the presumptive loss from the allocation of 2G spectrum on first-come-first-served basis, the BJP, in opposition then, had discovered in it a great political opportunity. The CAG had cited three other numbers too, based on different methods, but this one was mind-boggling and sure to stay in public imagination longer.

The UPA's plea that the CAG was sensationalising the loss figure and intruding into policy territory, the executive's domain, was greeted with ridicule from the opposition. It didn't help that the government tied itself in knots after coming up with the 'zero loss' estimate. The BJP had accused the government then of weakening institutions of democracy by criticising the audit watchdog. The boot is on the other foot now. And the BJP appears to have started behaving like the Congress.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement asking the CAG not to sensationalise its findings to get into headlines, sounds suspiciously like Congressspeak. "Auditor should be conscious of the fact that he is reviewing a decision that has already been taken. Have the fair procedures been followed? He doesn’t have to sensationalise. He doesn’t have to get into the headlines," he said addressing the 27th Accountants General annual conference in New Delhi on Wednesday. He had further said an auditor has to be "an active auditor but activism and restraint are always the two sides of the same coin."

What prompted the U-turn? Well, power creates its own compulsions. If sensational numbers could bring down the UPA, it could bring down any other government as well. Maybe CAG was not entirely correct with his numbers and in playing to the media. The minister was sending a subtle message.

"The statement is hilarious as well as pathetic. Earlier, the BJP hailed the former CAG on the same issue and is now advising the current CAG to desist. They are elevating chicanery to a fine art and there can’t be anything more sanctimonious than this," Manish Tewari told Firstpost.

CPM's Badal Saroj feels the government wants to caution the CAG in advance. "We’ve been saying for a long time that the BJP-led government wants to make constitutional institutions irrelevant. Jaitley cautioned CAG in advance fearing that their corruption shouldn’t get reported. The CAG should be made an independent institution and all its reports must be made public," remarked central committee member.

It's necessary that the constitutional heads should be careful about what they say and policy issues shouldn’t be spoken on a public platform that can lead to a controversy. This is dangerous, feels economist and professor at JNU Jayati Ghosh.

"It is a move against the basic democratic process. However, it is nothing surprising. In the case of black money, the NDA government back-tracked from its earlier promise, took a U-turn and said it won’t be able to provide all the names."

“It’s common that the government wants the CAG and similar institutions to tow their line of action and policy, rather than function in an absolute transparent manner, which is not ever possible,” a retired senior official at CAG remarked.