Raja hits back, says all decisions taken with PM

 

New Delhi, 22 Apr 2013, (PTI):  Indicted in the draft JPC report, former Telecom Minister A Raja today hit back maintaining that "every major decision", including entry fee and non auction of spectrum, was taken after consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.

 

"I took no unilateral decisions. Every major decision of mine was taken after consultation first with the DoT officers and thereafter with the Hon’ble PM, FM (Finance Minister P Chidambaram) and EAM (then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who was heading a GoM on vacation of spectrum).

 

"All issues including entry fee, non auction of spectrum, FCFS (first-come-first-served), processing of applications till 25.09.2007, etc., were personally discussed by me with the Hon’ble PM and the DoT proceeded only thereafter," he said.

 

In his over 100-page statement to JPC chief P C Chacko written after the draft report was circulated to panel members last week, Raja strongly rebutted the charge in the draft report that he had misled the Prime Minister when he took decisions.

 

He demanded recording of his statement and that of the Prime Minister before coming to conclusions.

 

"Since it has often been alleged that I ’misled’ the honourable Prime Minister, I wish to deal with this issue here. I would first of all point out that this allegation has been made by the CBI, without even recording the statement of the PM.

 

"On what basis do they then say that he was misled? I do hope that the JPC will not commit the same blunder: if they wish to draw any conclusions on this issue, it is mandatory to record both my statement and the statement of the honourable Prime Minister," he said.

 

Raja also said that if the Prime Minister tells Parliament that there was no loss to the exchequer, then how can the government "watch silently" when the CBI prosecutes him for allegedly causing loss to the exchequer.

 

"It is truly unbelievable and this attitude of the government can perhaps only be explained as an exercise in blame-shifting or acting on political considerations," Raja said in a statement sent to Chacko today.

 

Raja said the "inter-institutional differences and aberrations" were responsible for "my personal liberty being sacrificed for fifteen months".

 

He said the situation could have been easily avoided had the government "backed its minister" and presented the case properly before the Supreme Court.

 

"I can only hope that if this kind of situation recurs, no other minister is made to suffer my fate. In conclusion, I would like to state that I stand by every decision that I took, and I am confident of emerging from this controversy with my name cleared by the judiciary and by history," he wrote in the concluding portion of his statement.