How the Congress looks at l'affaire Raja

Pranab Mukherjee may pursue Raja's exit with Karunanidhi

GN Bureau | November 13, 2010



Cornered by the opposition in the Parliament over the 2G scam, Congress is mulling over ways to get DMK chief K Karunanidhi to agree to the removal fo telecom minister A Raja.

Sources say that the Congress could offer Raja's post to former union minister and DMK leader T R Baalu to appease the DMK patriarch.

The Congress core group will meet on Sunday after both party chief Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh return from Imphal and the G 20 summit in Seoul respectively. The core group is likely to discuss cast of the new government in Maharashtra under Prithviraj Chavan who took over as chief minister on Thursday.

The party has also shied away from commenting on the CAG probe report on 2G spectrum allocation, saying that it would only comment upon the findings after going through the report and not on "media reports on them".

Law minister M Veerappa Moily asserted that the CAG report is still not final and so it cannot be called an indictment as claimed by the opposition.

"You cannot call it an indictment. It is not a final report. Technically no one can call it indictment," Moily told PTI, adding he had not seen any minister resigning following a CAG report.

The CAG report holds the allotment of 2G spectrum instead of auction as having caused the state a loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore.

How Raja looks at l'affaire 2G

Sticks to guns, says spectrum allotment was within rulebook

Embattled telecom minister A Raja has maintained that he acted by the rulebook, saying that DoT rules and precedents on such processes had been that of allotment and not auctions at the time of 2G spectrum distribution.

Raja stood his ground in Parliament even though the opposition was baying for his blood. He said that he would not resign from his post. The ususally restrained Raja hit back at the opposition BJP saying that he was ready to submit all DoT records - right from  during the NDA rule to the 2G allotment - which would prove that ministers in the NDA regime  - late Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Shourie - followed the same set of guidelines as he did. Referring to his stint as a minister in the NDA government, Raja said, he would, however, not choose to embarrass those who had brought him into political limelight the first time ever.

How the BJP looks at l'affaire Raja

Senses threat, changes tack, steers away from JPC probe demand

Getting wind of telecom minister A Raja's plans to epxose senior BJP leaders associated with the department of telecommunications the party on Friday dropped its demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G scam asking instead for Raja's removal. Baying for Raja's blood after he threatened to reveal DoT documents that could smear muck on the images of leaders such as Sushma Swaraj, Arun Shourie and late Pramod Mahajan, the party rallied for JPC probe into CWG and Adarsh Housing Society scam.

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