DMK silent, AIADMK not content

The DMK leader and Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, maintained silence on the arrest of the DMK MP and former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja.

Mr Karunanidhi, studiously ignored reporters who dogged his footsteps throughout the afternoon hoping for a reaction to the arrest of Mr Raja by the CBI in Delhi. The DMK MP, a close associate, was till recently a constant presence at the Chief Minister's side.

As news of Mr Raja's arrest in Delhi broke early this afternoon media persons gathered outside the residence of the Chief Minister hoping to get his reaction to the development.

In the evening when he arrived at the Secretariat to preside over the opening of bids from manufacturers to supply television sets for the on going free TV distribution programme by the State Government media persons gathered outside the venue hoping to get his reaction to the development but the wait again proved futile.

At the meeting, Mr Karunanidhi, appeared to be relaxed as he conversed with senior government officials but the news of the arrest could not but have been weighing on his mind. But the arrest itself is not likely to have come as a surprise coming as it does a couple of days after his visit to Delhi, where he met with the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to finalise the alliance between the two parties for the coming elections to the State Assembly.

Mr Karunanidhi is expected to announce the DMK's stand on the arrest tomorrow when he addresses the DMK General Council and then a public meeting later in the evening.

Mr Raja stepped down as Union Telecom Minister on November 24, 2010, following strident political opposition over alleged irregularities in the allocation of spectrum to telecommunication companies. The Opposition called for his resignation after a CAG report held that the allocation had resulted in notional losses of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

At the time of his resignation, Mr Karunanidhi had said that the party would take action against Mr Raja if the accusations against him were proven.

AIADMK reacts

The AIADMK General Secretary, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, described the arrest of Mr Raja in connection with the 2G spectrum investigation as “too little, too late.”

The AIADMK's demand for a JPC on the 2G spectrum allocation stands, “more so because the Government of India has contradicted itself several times over.”

The CAG is an arm of the Government and its report tabled in Parliament has pointed out the loss of over Rs.1,76,000 crore to the Nation in the spectrum allocation.

“Next, Mr. Kapil Sibal, we presume, was also speaking on behalf of the Central Government as Union Telecom Minister, when he stated that no loss had been caused to the Nation by Raja – in fact, the words he used were “Zero loss”.

Now, the CBI, another arm of the Government, has arrested Mr Raja. If Raja had done nothing wrong, then why has he been arrested by the CBI?”, Ms Jayalalithaa questioned in the statement.

“I shall be satisfied only if the UPA accedes to the joint opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the scam,” Ms Jayalalithaa said in the statement.

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