While A Raja on Friday said he would give a detailed note of around 100 pages to the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam and concluded that he had “misled” the PM on the issue during his tenure as the telecom minister, PC Chacko, the chairman of the same committee, has informed the former minister that a majority of JPC members asked him not to summon Raja to depose, and thus he “respected their views”. 

In a smart move, Chacko sent the missive in a two-page letter (dated April 16) just before the JPC draft report on 2G scam was circulated among members on April 18.

Explaining why Raja was not asked to depose before the JPC, Chacko wrote: “The decision of whether or not to grant you permission to depose before the committee is taken on the basis of the opinion of the members of the committee. Although some members have requested for calling you to depose before the committee, majority of them did not share the same view. My conclusion was hence based on the majority decision of the members.”

(Please see pdf attachment of Chacko’s letter to Raja at the end of this report.)

Charged in the draft report with misleading the prime minister on 2G spectrum issue, Raja on Friday maintained that he had done everything in consultation with Manmohan Singh and would send a detailed note in his defence to the committee next week.  “I hope the JPC will call me after seeing my detailed note. I will prove my innocence,” he said in Chennai, where his party, the DMK, said the JPC report would be a “waste” unless Raja was allowed to depose before it.

The draft report has given a clean chit to the PM and finance minister P Chidambaram.

But assuring Raja that the JPC report was fair, Chacko informed Raja: “You should not have any apprehensions about the credibility of the report as stated in your letter (dated April 4). It is decided by the collective wisdom of the committee.”