A Raja pulls PM, PC into murky 2G waters. Will the UPA sink?

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former Telecom Minister A Raja, who has been convicted in the 2G spectrum scam has now made new damning allegations against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has said in court that the sale of the spectrum was approved in the presence of the PM.

Raja went a step ahead and also accused the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram and said in court that Chidambaram had approved the sale of spectrum to DB Realty. He had earlier feigned his innocence by stating that he was just following the telecom policy of the NDA regime and that he has done no wrong.

Senior Advocate Sushil Kumar, speaking for Raja in court said that his client was merely following the NDA policy and said, "As Telecom Minster Arun Shourie distributed 26 licences while Dayanidhi Maran distributed 25 and I (Raja) distributed 122 licences. Numbers make no difference, however, it is to be noted that none of them auctioned the spectrum."

He added, "If they had done no wrong, why am I being questioned? Let them deny that they have not done what I did. I was just following the 2003 Cabinet decision that is not to auction 2G spectrum. If I am following the law, I am not liable to be prosecuted. Infact, I should be rewarded."

Feigning his innocence once again in court, he said that it was due to his friendly telecom policies that mobile phone call rates were affordable to even a rickshaw wala. Backing the claim he declared in court, "It was my obligation to social justice that every man on the street should have a mobile phone. I am a servant of my people and I made the call rates of mobile phone so cheap that even a 'rickshaw wala' or a maid servant can be seen using it."

This could become yet another blow to the scam-tainted UPA government and it will be forced to answer some uncomfortable questions raised by the Opposition and other parties.

OneIndia News