15/11/2010
New Delhi: Union Telecom Minister A Raja on Sunday night resigned from the Cabinet over the alleged 2G Spectrum scam, putting an end to the standoff between the Congress and the DMK, which, at one point of time, threatened to destabilise the coalitions both at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu.
After about three days of hectic negotiations with the Congress, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday asked Raja to submit his resignation. Raja, who met the DMK supremo in Chennai earlier in the day -- his second meeting with him in the last 24 hours -- landed in New Delhi in the evening and called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to submit his resignation.
Though the DMK maintained its combative stance till the last minute, sources said the pressure on the party leadership mounted after the Prime Minister returned from the G20 meeting. The move to finally hang up on Raja was initiated on Saturday night, when a meeting was convened at Karunanidhi's residence at around 10 pm.
At the old Secretariat complex today afternoon, Raja met Karunanidhi again, and both returned to the Chief Minister's residence together. Former union minister and senior DMK leader TR Baalu joined them there. Baalu represents the other faction within the DMK. The meeting lasted for a little over half-an-hour. According to sources, Karunanidhi received "calls from Delhi" several times during the meeting.
Coming as it did less than a week after Ashok Chavan's resignation from the Maharashtra Chief Minister's post over the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the second high-profile resignation in the UPA government's second term has put the ruling dispensation at the Centre on the backfoot as the Opposition looked set to turn on the heat on a range of issues during the ongoing session of Parliament.
Emerging from the Prime Minister's residence on Sunday evening, Raja said: "In order to avoid the embarrassing situation to the government and running system of Parliament, my leader asked me to tender resignation to the PM. In accordance with the advice given to me by my respected and beloved leader, I tendered resignation to the PM but that does not mean I am accepting everything. I will prove that I did everything in accordance with the law."
The outgoing Telecom Minister said that his "conscience is clear" even as he maintained that he had brought about a "revolution" in the telecom sector during his tenure. "I did much to the people, to the country, and to my party," said Raja.
Raja's resignation came a day bafore the Supreme COurt is to take up the 2G spectrum case.
There is no word on the acceptance of Raja's resignation, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement in Parliamaent on Monday.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi denied that she would replace Raja in the Cabinet, even as she maintained that he had to resign "to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament".
Senior DMK leader TR Baalu told The Indian Express: "The party has not taken any decision on his (Raja's) successor. The high command will decide at an appropriate time. The leader has asked him to resign and he resigned."
Congress sources said that although the telecom portfolio would remain with the Prime Minister for now, the DMK wanted to retain it. "It (whether the DMK will retain the ministry) will be decided at the time of the Cabinet reshuffle after the Parliament session, we have not decided whether it will go to DMK or not. We have not put our mind to it yet," said a senior Congress leader. Earlier in Chennai, before boarding the plane for Delhi, Raja put up a brave face, saying that there was no question of his resignation. While the DMK had stoutly defended Raja, it was given little choice by the Congress leadership, which was determined to take its clean-up operation to a logical end by removing Raja.
While Congress leaders were in touch with Karunanidhi to persuade him to ask Raja to resign, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her political secretary Ahmed Patel, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony, who met on Sunday afternoon, decided not to make any compromises on the Raja issue.
The Prime Minister is likely to make a statement in Parliament on the telecom scandal on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Opposition looked set to continue its attack on the UPA government. "If he (Raja) was wrong, then why was he not stopped... It is not just Raja who will have to go, other ministers who are involved in it will also have to go," said BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Source: The Indian Express
K.Venugopal
Monday, 15 November 2010 12:23:22
The impression is that Raja has been forced to quit because of corruption. But no money trail has been discovered so far to establish there was corruption. A policy decision, which the Minister claims was a cabinet decision or approved by the PMO, was followed by him, which subsequently has been termed as a sell-out because higher amounts could have been obtained by the Government. At worst the Minister could be charged for incompetence. But where is the proof of corruption?
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4576903&page=0
New Delhi: Union Telecom Minister A Raja on Sunday night resigned from the Cabinet over the alleged 2G Spectrum scam, putting an end to the standoff between the Congress and the DMK, which, at one point of time, threatened to destabilise the coalitions both at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu.
After about three days of hectic negotiations with the Congress, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday asked Raja to submit his resignation. Raja, who met the DMK supremo in Chennai earlier in the day -- his second meeting with him in the last 24 hours -- landed in New Delhi in the evening and called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to submit his resignation.
Though the DMK maintained its combative stance till the last minute, sources said the pressure on the party leadership mounted after the Prime Minister returned from the G20 meeting. The move to finally hang up on Raja was initiated on Saturday night, when a meeting was convened at Karunanidhi's residence at around 10 pm.
At the old Secretariat complex today afternoon, Raja met Karunanidhi again, and both returned to the Chief Minister's residence together. Former union minister and senior DMK leader TR Baalu joined them there. Baalu represents the other faction within the DMK. The meeting lasted for a little over half-an-hour. According to sources, Karunanidhi received "calls from Delhi" several times during the meeting.
Coming as it did less than a week after Ashok Chavan's resignation from the Maharashtra Chief Minister's post over the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the second high-profile resignation in the UPA government's second term has put the ruling dispensation at the Centre on the backfoot as the Opposition looked set to turn on the heat on a range of issues during the ongoing session of Parliament.
Emerging from the Prime Minister's residence on Sunday evening, Raja said: "In order to avoid the embarrassing situation to the government and running system of Parliament, my leader asked me to tender resignation to the PM. In accordance with the advice given to me by my respected and beloved leader, I tendered resignation to the PM but that does not mean I am accepting everything. I will prove that I did everything in accordance with the law."
The outgoing Telecom Minister said that his "conscience is clear" even as he maintained that he had brought about a "revolution" in the telecom sector during his tenure. "I did much to the people, to the country, and to my party," said Raja.
Raja's resignation came a day bafore the Supreme COurt is to take up the 2G spectrum case.
There is no word on the acceptance of Raja's resignation, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement in Parliamaent on Monday.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi denied that she would replace Raja in the Cabinet, even as she maintained that he had to resign "to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament".
Senior DMK leader TR Baalu told The Indian Express: "The party has not taken any decision on his (Raja's) successor. The high command will decide at an appropriate time. The leader has asked him to resign and he resigned."
Congress sources said that although the telecom portfolio would remain with the Prime Minister for now, the DMK wanted to retain it. "It (whether the DMK will retain the ministry) will be decided at the time of the Cabinet reshuffle after the Parliament session, we have not decided whether it will go to DMK or not. We have not put our mind to it yet," said a senior Congress leader. Earlier in Chennai, before boarding the plane for Delhi, Raja put up a brave face, saying that there was no question of his resignation. While the DMK had stoutly defended Raja, it was given little choice by the Congress leadership, which was determined to take its clean-up operation to a logical end by removing Raja.
While Congress leaders were in touch with Karunanidhi to persuade him to ask Raja to resign, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her political secretary Ahmed Patel, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony, who met on Sunday afternoon, decided not to make any compromises on the Raja issue.
The Prime Minister is likely to make a statement in Parliament on the telecom scandal on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Opposition looked set to continue its attack on the UPA government. "If he (Raja) was wrong, then why was he not stopped... It is not just Raja who will have to go, other ministers who are involved in it will also have to go," said BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Source: The Indian Express
K.Venugopal
Monday, 15 November 2010 12:23:22
The impression is that Raja has been forced to quit because of corruption. But no money trail has been discovered so far to establish there was corruption. A policy decision, which the Minister claims was a cabinet decision or approved by the PMO, was followed by him, which subsequently has been termed as a sell-out because higher amounts could have been obtained by the Government. At worst the Minister could be charged for incompetence. But where is the proof of corruption?
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4576903&page=0
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