Tata group chairman, Ratan Tata, in a strongly worded letter, has replied to the open letter written by the Rajya Sabha MP and former mobile promoter Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Chandrasekhar in his open letter published on December 8 had made a scathing attack on Ratan Tata calling his stand contradictory to the position of the Tata Telecom companies.

Refuting Chandrasekhar’s allegation that Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) had been benefitted in any way by former telecom minister’s A Raja’s policies, he said, “TTSL is the only operator that returned spectrum when demanded by DoT. The CAG report clearly indicates which of the powerful GSM operators are holding spectrum beyond their entitlement free of cost and to the detriment of the other operators.”

Making a frontal attack on Chandrshekar and his allegiance to the BJP, Tata questioned his motive behind the open letter."Your affiliation to a particular political party is well known and it appears their political aspirations and their endeavour to embarrass the Prime Minister and the ruling party may well have been the motivation behind your letter,” he said.

Tata also accused Chandrasekhar, who was the promoter of BPL mobile before his Rajya Sabha stint, of subverting telecom policies for personal gains. “Growth (in terms of mobile penetration) could have been far greater had incumbent operators like Mr. Chandrasekhar risen above self-interest of protecting their investment and allowing the existence of all technologies on an equal footing,” he said

“Mr. Chandrasekhar and others lobbied aggressively through Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to ensure against a technologically agnostic environment,” he said.

Earlier in his open letter Chandrashekahar had pointed out that Tata’s themselves had benefited from the out-of-turn allocation of many deals.

On Tata’s allegation of a former civil aviation minister asking for a Rs 15 crore bribe, Chandrasekhar had suggested that such revelations years after the incident was like "an intellectual post mortem, and not active resistance."

Quoting figures about the loss to the country's exchequer, Chandrasekhar had also accused Tata's of robbing the country's exchequer to the tune of Rs 19074.8 crores.

"Your company was the beneficiary of this policy 'flip flop' and you chose to accept the benefits of this flip-flop at that time - despite this blatant violation and distortion. I am personally aware because I  led the fight against it and remember being immensely disappointed at the Tata Group’s remarkably self-serving position. Further, in one of the most mysterious and indefensible acts, Tata Group took on board as a consultant, the very individual, who as the chairman of TRAI was the architect of this UASL and other shames."

Chadrasekhar had questioned Tata’s relationship with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia "why a group like Tata with its sterling character and reputation requires outside lobbyists to lobby on their behalf! That, in itself, is enough to shatter one’s confidence!"

He also was also critical of Tata terming India a "banana republic". He pointed out that people like the Tatas chose to become mute spectators rather than pro-active harbingers of change. 

Read Chandrasekhar's letter attached below.