2G scam: Congress holds high-level meeting to discuss A. Raja

NEW DELHI - The Congress on Sunday held a high-level meeting to discuss the 2G scam and the A Raja sacking issue.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, party President Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to the Congress President were present during the deliberations that took place at Parliament House here.

The leaders are also said to have discussed a strategy to tackle Opposition attacks.

The meeting came as senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Law Minister Durai Murugan arrived in Delhi this morning, amid speculation that he may discuss the issue of the opposition demand for the Telecom Minister’s removal.

The meeting also assumes significance as it came amid growing pressure from the opposition for the removal of Raja as Telecom Minister.

Meanwhile, in Thiruvananthapuram, Defence Minister AK Antony has said the government is not covering nor is it conducting a “witch hunt” over the issue.

“I am a cabinet minister. I am not offering any comment. I have limitations. I am not for a public debate. Let us wait and see,” he added

When asked about the Congress’s response to the offer of support from AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa to the government in event of the DMK pull-out over Raja issue, he said “our party spokesperson has already made the (Congress) stand clear”.

The opposition campaign is expected to gain further momentum in the coming week with the CAG report on the 2G Spectrum allocation set to be tabled in Parliament.

The 2G spectrum allocations caused an alleged loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore to the Government, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has stated in a damning report.

The report further states that Raja had no apparent logical or valid reasons to ignore the advice of the Law and Finance Ministries while allocating telecom spectrum to several firms in 2007-08.

The report is likely to be tabled in Parliament within ten days. (ANI)