The ruling DMK party on Thursday expressed solidarity with its Member of Parliament and former Union Telecom Minister, Mr A .Raja, who was arrested by the CBI on Wednesday in connection with allegations of irregularities in the allocation of spectrum licences.
At its general council meeting, the DMK passed a resolution condemning Opposition parties paralysing Parliamentary proceedings demanding JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe into Mr Raja's role in the allocation of 2G licence and spectrum.
The council recalled that the DMK leader and the Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, had stated on December 8, 2010, when the controversy started, that the party would take ?unsympathetic' action if Mr Raja was found guilty. But, a person cannot be considered guilty simply on the basis of arrest as evidence has shown many times. The DMK is ?an open book' on this issue. The Opposition parties' attempt to sully the reputation of the DMK is condemnable, the resolution read.
This was among the 21 resolutions moved by the general council, including a strongly worded criticism of the media disregarding journalistic ethics in its biased coverage of the DMK, its senior leaders and their family. The 36-page-note of resolutions covering a wide range of social, political and economic issues, was circulated to the media following the nearly four-hour long council meeting. The usual briefing by Mr Karunanidhi, which generally follows such events, did not happen.
One-man committee
The resolution relating to the 2G spectrum said the Opposition parties have had their way in demanding Mr Raja's removal from the post of Union Minister and his arrest. A one-man committee with a former judge of the Supreme Court, Mr Shivraj Patil, also submitted its report on January 31 on the procedures followed in the allocation of spectrum and licences by the Governments between 2001 and 2009.
But the Opposition continued to demand a JPC probe into the issue, even as a Public Accounts Committee headed by the BJP leader Mr Murli Manohar Joshi is inquiring into the CAG report that has sparked this controversy.
The CAG report is the only basis for the opposition demand. But even on an earlier occasion, when the BJP Government was in place, a CAG report had highlighted the loss to the exchequer in spectrum allocation.
But at that time, there had not been such opposition or accusation. The DMK considers the action of the political opposition paralysing the Parliament for 22 days as ?anti-democratic,' the resolution said.