Clamour rises for Raja's resignation, Congress defends him

Despite opposition parties mounting pressure on the government to act against Telecom Minister A Raja over his alleged role in the allotment of 2G spectrum in 2008 the Congress Saturday defended him by saying he could not be removed over speculation linked to a Comptroller and Auditor General CAG report which is yet to be submitted Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed launched a counter offensive against the rival Bharatiya Janata Party BJP saying How can they demand Rajas dismissal just because of a CAG report that is yet to be tabled He asked the BJP to first tell what action it was taking against its Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa embroiled in scams including one related to land allotted to his son in a prime industrial hub of Bangalore Instead of making baseless allegations against Raja who has followed the same policy in 2G spectrum allocation that he inherited from the BJPled central government the party better look into corruption of its chief ministers and governments Ahmed told reporters here Meanwhile Raja debunked former telecom secretary DS Mathurs claim of resisting the ministrys attempts to give licences without a transparent policy Raja said Mathur was party to every step he took Mathur who retired from office Dec 31 2007 is reported to have claimed that the minister had asked him to advance the cutoff date in October but he refused stating that it would be against the principles of natural justice BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar described Mathurs assertion as the clinching evidence of Rajas obsession from day one to distribute 500 mobile phone licences and make money by ignoring procedures and applicants competence Mathurs statement in an interview showed how Raja resisted all along the public auction of the spectrum and distributed licences in a private auction to earn moneyhis reluctance to formulate a policy to determine competent applicants also proved that the allotment was a premeditated conspiracy Javadekar said The Communist Party of IndiaMarxist CPIM Saturday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to drop Raja from the cabinet over the 2G spectrum controversy With increasing evidence of the scam is tumbling out and the CAG report itself reportedly estimating a loss of Rs176 trillion 40 billion there is no way this issue can be pushed under the carpet it said in a statement The CPIM said the Supreme Court bench itself had observed adversely on the failure of the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI to question the minister who has refused to resign It was implicit that his continuation in the council of ministers is impacting the progress of the investigations the party said Todays press reports actually confirm this as a meeting was arranged between CBIs investigating officers and Rajas Counsel the CPIM said There is also a report that the former telecom secretary has now publicly claimed that the minister had allegedly tried to force him to agree to the course of allocating 2G spectrum which he refused the party said And subsequently the minister ensured the course he had chosen which has resulted in this mega scam the CPIM said The CPIM is of the firm opinion that the continuation of the minister has become untenable Since he has categorically refused to quit voluntarily the CPIM demands that the prime minister act urgently