CHENNAI: Blaming Manmohan Singh for not backing him in the 2G spectrum allocation issue despite his repeated assertions that he had done no wrong, former Union telecom minister A. Raja has written to the former prime minister asking him to “come forward in my support” which he could not do while in power.
Raja, exonerated of all charges in the 2G spectrum case by special CBI judge O. P. Saini, has also told Singh that the “propaganda” by “a few powerful individuals” had cost the UPA government and it took “seven years of my life, including 15 months in jail.”
The former minister has been maintaining that he was not at fault and that he always kept the Prime Minister and his senior cabinet colleagues in the loop on his decision while allocating 2G spectrum. Raja had taken the same line of defence in the 2G court as well as in the Joint Parliamentary Committee that probed the allocation.
“I hope you will acknowledge that I remained loyal and faithful to you – unlike some senior Cabinet colleagues – and ensured that you did not suffer personal embarrassment in the trial proceedings. Now that the truth about 2G is out in the open, perhaps you too could come forward in my support, which you could not earlier,” Raja wrote to Singh on December 26 last year.
In his reply on January 2, Singh merely said he was “very happy” that Raja stood vindicated in the 2G case and did not go into the details of the case that got national attention for seven years. “You and your family have suffered greatly in this process but all your friends are greatly relieved that truth has prevailed. I send you and members of your family my greetings and best wishes for the new year,” Singh said in his reply to Raja. “I assured you several times that I had done nothing wrong but rather acted in the national interest and that I would prove this,” Raja told Singh. The DMK leader said he understood the “compulsions” that prevented Singh from openly supporting him.
