New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today virtually ruled out the Opposition's demand for resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja over the 2G spectrum allocation controversy.
"I have not come here to convey good news to you people," he said sarcastically when asked by reporters about the Opposition's demand for Raja's ouster and whether the issue would come up during his meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Karunanidhi reached Delhi earlier in the day amid speculation that he may discuss the matter with the Congress high command.
The CBI probing the spectrum scam recently raided offices of the telecom department, but the DMK maintains Raja is targeted as he's a dalit and the government is yet to act against Raja.
Raja has got embroiled in two major allegations, the spectrum scam that allegedly led to a loss of 60,000 crore rupees and his alleged telephone call to a Madras high court judge for a favourable order.
But the DMK chief has backed Raja from the very beginning, who has emerged as the dalit face of the party, and enjoys a good rapport with Karunanidhi's family.
Telecom Minister A Raja will not do a Shashi Tharoor - That was the strong message from the DMK, ahead of Karunanidhi's meeting with Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister on Monday.
The argument: Raja had just carried on with the first come first serve policy of his predecessors for 2G spectrum allocation, and had kept the Prime Minister in the loop.
Meanwhile, the Opposition is all set to storm Parliament on the telecom scandal when it opens on Monday. The BJP has demanded the Prime Minister should explain whether the process of 2G spectrum allocation has been fair.
Documents with NDTV suggest Raja's policy of awarding fresh licenses to new operators was intensely debated within the government:
- On November 1, 2007, the Law Ministry note to the Telecom Ministry suggested the spectrum allocation policy should be first considered by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM).
- A day later, the PM wrote to Raja to ensure a fair and transparent policy and let him know before taking any further step.
- Raja wrote back the same day, saying his ministry will continue to allocate spectrum on a first-come-first-serve basis. He rejected the idea of taking this issue to the EGOM.
- The same day, Raja wrote another letter to the PM, giving a detailed clarification on the points raised by the PM.
- On December 26, Raja wrote to the PM again blaming the Cellular Operators Association of India of protecting the monopoly of existing players by preventing the entry of new companies.
- On January 3, the PM wrote back to Raja, acknowledging his communication.
The Congress party has clearly distanced itself from the controversy.
"This issue has been raised many times before and the Telecom Minister has clarified and there is nothing more to add or subtract," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.
So will another parliament discussion on the 2G spectrum be an exercise in futility or will the government be forced to act against the Telecom Minister?