The former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, said on Friday that he had kept Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informed of developments in the allocation of 2G spectrum and did everything in consultation with him.
When his reaction to the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s draft report was sought, Mr. Raja told reporters here that he had always been consistent on this point, ever since the FIR was filed in October 2009, whereas the institutions and individuals handling the spectrum allocation case were inconsistent.
According to Mr. Raja, there was a huge gap between the allegations made by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and the CBI that he had ignored the Prime Minister, and the JPC finding that he had misled the Prime Minister.
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“Where is the consistency? But I have always maintained it. The FIR was filed in 2009 and I resigned on my own in 2010. This goes to show that I have enjoyed the confidence of the Prime Minister. When I was arrested, questioned by the CBI, when the charge sheet was filed and after I was released, I have always been consistent in my stand. The Prime Minister has not responded to my arguments,” he said.
Mr. Raja said he would give a detailed note of around 100 pages to the JPC. “I hope the JPC will call me after seeing my detailed note. I will prove my innocence.”
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Meanwhile, DMK president M. Karunanidhi, rejected the JPC’s conclusion that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was misled by Mr. Raja.
“How can I believe the argument that a Minister misled Prime Minister of the country?” Mr. Karunanidhi replied, when reporters asked him about the draft JPC report that had given a clean chit to the Prime Minister.
The JPC had said the first-come-first-served procedure was “a misrepresentation of facts and, in tactic, deviation from the existing procedure.”
Asked whether he would adequately advise Mr. Raja, who was coming to Chennai to meet him, Mr. Karunanidhi said there was no need for that.“He was the Minister of the department and there is no need for me to advise him. But justice should be done. Since the time of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram, the people of Tamil Nadu have always wanted justice,” he said.