Former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja is moving the supreme court next week to seek a review of the February 2 judgment on the 2G scam. He wants the court to expunge references to him.

A lawyer himself, he is busy in Tihar Jail drafting an affidavit, to be filed before the apex court, on the references to demand their removal on the ground that they have been made without hearing him as the natural justice demands, according to the sources interacting with him during his appearance before the trial court.

Despite the judgment specifically stating that it won't impact the criminal cases filed or to be filed by the CBI and other agencies, Raja's case is that the references on his role are bound to prejudice his case.

Expecting some affected telecom firms as also the government likely to move the court for review of the judgment, Raja hopes that his affidavit will enable him to make out his case for deleting the references to him during the hearing.

HURTING BLOT

He is confident that he will be able to clear the blot on him by the supreme court as he will get the chance due to a move afoot in the government to file a review petition against the judgment. He was quite enthusiastic to learn from TV news channels that the law ministry has asked attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati to respond to the PM's four queries in this regard.

Even if the government holds back its hand, he says the telecom firms wronged like Tata Tele are bound to move the review petition and it will be the time for him to press for hearing him too on parts of the judgment, not only those having references to him but other aspects also, that he finds misconceived and not factual.

NOT OUT ON BAIL, BUT OUT OF JAIL

While all others arrested in the 2G scam are out on bail, the 48-year old never applied for the bail during his year-long confinement in the jail. Sources say he does not want to get out on bail and yet he would be taking steps in the coming days to come out of jail during the Parliament session that begins on March 12.

They say he would be approaching the trial CBI court to grant him permission to attend Parliament to render his duties as an elected representative of Nilgiris on the strength of a "summon" he got from the President of India, convening the Lok Sabha from March 12.

If he gets permission to go to parliament from Tihar Jail, he will seize the opportunity to embarrass the government by exposing the prime minister as also home minister P Chidambaram, who was then the finance minister, for dumping all responsibilities of the scam on his head. He may also take on his DMK party that has almost disowned him, short of expelling him.

Even if DMK supremo M Karunanidhi issues a gag order on him, sources say the parties like BJP and CPM will not allow him to keep quiet as they will provoke him to express his views on the criminal culpability of the PM and Chidambaram in his case.

WRITING BOOK

Sources say Raja is already penning his diary and filing documents he has procured in the process of the trial court hearing for use in a book he plans to write after he emerges as "not guilty" to expose all those who worked to ruin his political career by heaping the 2G scam on him.

He claims the CBI has so far failed to produce even an iota of evidence of criminality against him and as such the case against him is bound to collapse and it is then he would publish the book to let the world know what all he can not discuss when the case is pending in the court.