Ashok Chavan is out and Suresh Kalmadi is at least out of favour within his party. At a time when the Congress party has sent out these signals, in a belated bid to wash itself free of the stains of corruption, the coalition government it leads at the centre is sending out a completely contrary message. Telecom minister A Raja continues in office even as he has been personally accused of corruption in the 2G spectrum sale in 2008 that cost the nation up to Rs 1.7 lakh crore in lost revenue -- the spectrum sale brought just about Rs 9,000 crore while the 3G spectrum was auctioned later for nearly Rs 68,000 crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General has indicted the minister for his role in the arbitrary 2G spectrum allocation, as has the Supreme Court. Yet, Raja remains defiantly in office. His parent party, the Tamil Nadu-based Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, has refused to recall him and the prime minister seems powerless in the matter. The nation can only draw some solace from the implication that had Raja been a Congress party member he would have surely lost his job. As Raja's position turns more untenable by the minute, the question remains whether the Congress party will assert itself and sack Raja even at the expense of inviting the wrath of its alliance partner which seems least concerned about the charges of corruption.