The Opposition parties on Wednesday said that the arrest of former Telecom Minister Mr A. Raja was too little and too late.
“The arrest is too little, too late. It is very unfair to say that Raja alone had gulped Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Who are the rest of the people? BJP categorically wants to know that,” said the BJP spokesperson, Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Member of Parliament said, “These arrests - a consequence of Supreme Courts monitoring of the CBI is the first step - and will hopefully expose all the illegalities, criminal conspiracies, perpetrators of the scam and the beneficiaries. It will hopefully signal that law breakers will be punished regardless of who they are.”
The Janata Party President, Mr Subramanian Swamy, welcomed the arrest. “He had to be arrested before February 5 as my criminal case is coming and my application for issuing a warrant was there. After all, my petition has been held now by the judge,” Mr Swamy said.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI (M) leader, Mr Sitaram Yetchury, said that if the new Communication Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, was right when he said there was no problem in the allocation of 2G spectrum, then why did the CBI arrest Raja. “It only vindicates our position that there is very deep malaise behind the scam,” Mr Yetchury said. “The bigger issue is how the system was allowed to be manipulated in such a huge way,” he added.
The Congress, meanwhile, dismissed suggestions that the arrest of Mr Raja would affect the credibility of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. The Party spokesman, Mr Abhishek Singhvi, said it was absurd to suggest that the entire government needed to be blamed for the scam on the principle of collective responsibility.
He also brushed aside AIADMK supremo Ms J. Jayalalithaa's demand that the entire family of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader Mr M. Karunanidhi be arrested following the action against Mr Raja. “You cannot start criminal proceedings against anyone just because someone has made a demand,” Mr Singhvi said.