Why were DMK ministers silent on earlier spectrum scam, asks Jayalalithaa

Chennai, Nov 2 : AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa asked Monday why the DMK ministers in the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government remained mute spectators when more than Rupees 100,000 crore loss was caused to the nation by faulty telecom spectrum allocation policies.

Last week union Telecom Minister A. Raja alleged that the NDA government caused a loss of over Rs.100,000 crore to the nation due to its licence fee and spectrum allocation policies.

"In a desperate bid to wriggle out of the tight corner he finds himself in, union Telecom Minister Raja has opened the doors of a new closet from which hitherto well-hidden skeletons have tumbled out. He says that just like him, the NDA too had also caused the nation a loss of over Rs.1 lakh crore during their period in office through a faulty spectrum allocation policy," Tamil Nadu's main opposition leader Jayalalithaa said in a statement.

Stating that Raja's allegation was plausible as he was a cabinet minister during the NDA regime and was privy to all the "wrongdoings" of that period, she wondered: "What were he and his cabinet colleagues from DMK doing when the telecom ministry was perpetrating the huge fraud on the nation?"

DMK's heavyweights Murasoli Maran and T.R. Baalu, apart from Raja, were cabinet ministers in the A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA government.

"Why didn't any of them protest? Why did they not at least raise the issue at a cabinet meeting? Why did they not walk out of the NDA? By keeping silent, were they not guilty of abetting the multi-crore scam against the nation?" Jayalalithaa asked.

Citing that the telecom portfolio was held by DMK ministers in the succeeding United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the very first day in May 2004, Jayalalithaa wondered why either of them did not raise the issue then.

In the first innings of the UPA government, the telecom portfolio was handled by Dayanidhi Maran and later by Raja.

The DMK insisted that Raja be given the telecom ministry which he got when the second UPA government was being formed.