New Delhi:
The exit of tainted Telecom Minister A Raja from the Union Cabinet seems inevitable. He has been accused of misappropriation during the bidding for allocation of 2G spectrum.
The Opposition has been targeting its guns at the government, especially the Prime Minister, demanding Raja's removal. The main Opposition party, the BJP, is unhappy over the Prime Minister's silence on the issue.
Last week on Tuesday the Congress, in a bid to calm the Opposition tempers, dropped Ashok Chavan as Maharashtra chief minister and Suresh Kalmadi as the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games. This was done in a bid to calm the Opposition tempers just ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament.
But the Opposition continued with its demand of Raja's removal and stalled Parliament on Wednesday and Thursday. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India submitted on Wednesday slammed Raja, thereby cornering the government.
All this while, the Telecom Minister has, however, maintained that there is no question of him resigning. During the last 48 hours, Raja's party - the DMK - has defended him. But the pressure has been mounting on the government to take action against Raja, especially after former telecom secretary DS Mathur slammed the Telecom Minister.
On Saturday, sources said that the Congress has decided that Raja has to go and many senior Congress leaders have been involved in persuading the DMK to let Raja go. Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee even called DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Saturday to discuss the issue. Raja, meanwhile, reiterated that there is no need for him to resign and met Karunanidhi.
On Sunday as well, hectic negotiations have been going on to decide Raja's fate. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi met in the forenoon to discuss the Raja issue as well as Parliament stand-off.
Congress leaders have been in constant touch with the DMK leadership throughout Sunday; Raja again met Karunanidhi. Speculation emerge as to who will succeed Raja? The names of Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and senior DMK leader T R Baalu emerge as top contenders. Karunanidhi met Central ministers of the DMK to discuss the issue.
WHAT IS THE 2G SCAM?- 2G licenses issued in the year 2008 at 2001 prices
- Raja insisted on 'first come-first served' policy
- 9 companies got licenses for nearly Rs 10, 800 crore
- Some firms sold partial stakes for much higher rates
- CAG: Govt lost between Rs 1.4 & 1.76 lakh crore
- CAG: Raja ignored advice of Law, Finance ministries