Congress throws Raja issue into DMK's court

New Delhi: The fate of Union Telecom Minister A Raja is to be decided on Sunday, a day before Parliament reconvenes. The Congress top leadership discussed Raja and his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam on Sunday morning at Parliament House in New Delhi.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel. Following the meet, the Congress decided to wait for the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) decision on Raja

The DMK is expected to meet later on Sunday to discuss the Raja issue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is under pressure from the Opposition to act against 2G spectrum scam-tainted Raja.

Senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Law Minister Durai Murugan is in Delhi with the DMK officially saying he is in the capital to meet the counsel appearing for Tamil Nadu in the Mullaperiyar Dam case, which is likely to come up before the Supreme Court this week.

But sources say Murugan is in Delhi because of the Raja issue.

Defence Minister AK Antony said in Thiruvananthapuram that "no cover up and no witch hunt" was the Government policy.

The Opposition parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left Front and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have threatened to continue to disrupt Parliament if Raja is not removed from the Union Council of Ministers.

The Opposition has also pointed that CBI officials investigating the case as well as Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam had met Raja's lawyer Anita Shenoy on October 29 to chalk out strategy ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on the 2G spectrum scam.

Meanwhile, the war of words continues between Raja and his former telecom secretary DS Mathur. Mathur, who blew the whistle on Raja's alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, has hit back after the telecom Minister said that he (Mathur) too was involved in the process of allocating spectrum licences.

"I had raised objections over issuing spectrum to 500 people. It was discussed and noted that spectrum is not our responsibility and that we would issue licenses at a later date when available. Licence fee decision was not taken and both member of finance and I agreed that an auction should be conducted. But they are now hiding this information," Mathur said in Bhopal.

Raja has claimed innocence in the entire case and ruled out his resignation. Raja has maintained that he was merely following the New Telecom Policy of 1999.

However, a Comptroller and Auditor General report on 2G spectrum has claimed that Raja ignored the advice of the Finance Ministry, the Law Ministry and the Telecom Commission while allocating the spectrum. The report, which is to be tabled in Parliament on Monday, also claims the spectrum allocation was done in an arbitrary manner without giving any logic or reasons.

The report states that the eligibility criteria were changes to suit a few operators. The loss to the exchequer is estimated to be more than Rs 1,70,000 crore.

Even the Prime Minister had asked Raja to auction the 2G spectrum but the minister chose to ignore his advice. Three letters all exchanged on November 2, 2007 between the Prime Minister and Telecom Minister show just how concerned Manmohan Singh was with Raja's actions.

The Prime Minister wrote to Raja asking him to ensure fairness and transparency. He also cautioned him against taking any measures without informing the Prime Minister's Office.

Further in the two-page letter, Manmohan Singh objected to Raja's model of: first-come-first-serve and the 2001 pricing for sale in 2008.

The Prime Minister clearly instructed him to consider introduction of a transparent methodology like an auction and revision of the entry free.