New Delhi:
Is Telecom Minister A Raja's exit from the Cabinet now virtually inevitable? Sources have told NDTV that Raja could be asked to go as early as next week. In fact NDTV has learnt that senior ministers are speaking with the DMK to convince them.
Their mission perhaps became even more urgent after former Telecom Secretary D S Mathur went public with his criticism.
Mathur claimed that Raja pushed for the controversial first-come-first-serve route to give away new licenses to telecom companies instead of the auctioning them.
"The issues arose as to how many applications can we give licenses to because spectrum is a very limited commodity. We could not issue licenses to everybody and therefore cause chaos because a large number of people having received the license would not have been able to start the operations because of the lack of spectrum. So this was one issue which had to be taken care of," Mathur had said. (
Read: Ex-Telecom Secretary's claims could land Raja in more trouble)
Mathur's claims were, however, quickly rebutted by the Telecom Minister. Speaking to NDTV, Raja said Mathur was a very much a part of the decisions. "Mathur was part and parcel of all the decisions taken."
The minister even showed documents claiming Mathur signed on the relevant files.
Speaking on the question of the Prime Minister wanting him to resign he said, "The question of The PM wanting me to resign is fictitious. I will prove the public perception against me on corruption is wrong. The CBI's FIR does not name me. I need not resign. But I will not interfere in the CBI's investigation." "I will come out clean," he added.
(Watch)But clearly Raja's defence has not convinced the Opposition who are now targetting the Prime Minister.
"Unfortunately, the Prime Minister isn't saying a word about this. Even today, when asked, he kept mum. We're asking, does his clean image also include whitewashing of such scams and still it can be clean?" BJP spokesperson Prakash Jawadekar said. (
Read: Alliance with DMK stands as of now, says PM)
"Now minister claims that all this is done with the knowledge of the PM. Then this is a very grievous charge. He is virtually saying the PM is also a party to all this," CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said. (
Read: CAG slams Raja for 'ignoring advice on 2G without logic')
The Prime Minister had said on Friday night that the alliance with the DMK is intact as of now and refused to comment on the A Raja controversy. But one thing is clear - when Parliament meets on Monday the Opposition will train its guns on the Prime Minister.