Describing the arrest of the former Union Telecom Minister, A. Raja, as “a ruse to hoodwink the public and also to tell the Supreme Court that some action has been taken with regard to the spectrum scam,” AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said there was no change in her party's demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
“The demand for a JPC probe stands, more so because the government of India has contradicted itself several times over,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said in a statement.
She said the arrest at this late date smacked of pure theatrics by the CBI in the face of pressure from the Supreme Court.
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“It is a clear case of too little, too late. This arrest only raises more questions than it answers. Many questions have been left unanswered,” she further said.
Recalling the CAG report on the loss caused to the exchequer and the subsequent clarification by the present Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal that no loss had been caused to the nation by Mr. Raja, Ms. Jayalalithaa wanted to know that if Mr. Raja had done nothing wrong, then why had he been arrested by the CBI, an arm of the Central government.
“What is Kapil Sibal's stand now? Does he stand by what he said? Or will he come up with another bout of convoluted reasoning?” she said, adding that the purpose of the arrest had become all the more suspect against the background of a clean chit given by Mr. Sibal.
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“Pressure tactic”
She said if the CBI's intentions were genuine, a lot more persons should have been arrested by now.
“So I am inclined to believe that both the CBI and the Congress-led UPA government are trying to give an impression that they are taking action according to law on this issue. The Congress is also possibly using the arrest as a pressure tactic to get a better deal from the DMK during seat-sharing talks for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections,” she said.