JPC Chairman P.C. Chacko, who wants to table the report on 2G scam in Parliament by March-end, will take a final decision on calling A. Raja as a witness in a week’s time after consulting other members of the committee.
The former telecom minister has expressed willingness to appear before the panel and DMK members in JPC T.R. Baalu and T. Siva have been pressing Mr. Chacko to call Mr. Raja as a witness.
The DMK members also demanded calling Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati again before the panel after he told JPC earlier this month that the controversial press note regarding 2G licences was changed at the last minute by Mr. Raja in 2008 with a different pen.
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Mr. Raja has also been blamed for the 2G scam by other witnesses before the special CBI court.
Mr. Chacko is apparently against calling Mr. Raja as a witness. He has told members that as an accused Raja has legal protection and cannot make fresh revelations before any committee.
Therefore, there was no point in calling Mr. Raja.
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“If Mr. Raja is to be called, he will be the last witness. If DMK agrees on not calling him, then we have concluded calling witnesses before JPC and we would focus on writing the report,” Mr. Chacko had recently said.