Live
- Power generation up at 140bn units
- India formally sends letter of intent to host 2036 Olympics: Sources
- Pollution spikes after Deepawali fireworks in capital
- Lokayukta police to summon CM for questioning in MUDA case tomorrow
- AP DGP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao addresses media, emphasises commitment of people
- Two Bengaluru residents lose ₹95 lakh to cyber fraudsters
- Lady Aghori alleges misbehavior by toll gate staff
- Karnataka prohibits all forms of manja after PETA plea
- Boy Dies in Tragic School Gate Collapse at ZP High School, Hayatnagar
- Jagan will be a sole person to remain in YSRCP
2G: Isn’t there a kernel of truth?
The much-awaited judgement in the alleged mega scam of 2G spectrum comes as a big blow to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the CBI Special Court Judge O P Saini dismissed the prosecution\'s arguments as unsubstantiating and acquitted all the 19 accused including A Raja and Kanimozhi of the DMK. There is a furore over the same with the CBI claiming that it would approach the High Court.
The much-awaited judgement in the alleged mega scam of 2G spectrum comes as a big blow to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the CBI Special Court Judge O P Saini dismissed the prosecution's arguments as unsubstantiating and acquitted all the 19 accused including A Raja and Kanimozhi of the DMK. There is a furore over the same with the CBI claiming that it would approach the High Court.
The Congress, expectedly, is jubilant in claiming its conduct certificate and the BJP laughing it way. But the euphoric media, all along, perhaps misled the nation itself regarding the very criminality of the persons allegedly involved. In fact, the media celebrated the scam as never before. Congress has always maintained that it was no scam at all, as the issue was all about some impropriety in giving licences irrespective of the priority of the application and that mistake was done by the former Telecom Minster, A Raja.
The CAG maintained that it was a government mistake in selling the spectrum at a lower price and not by auction which became the basis for the allegation. The Centre had decided Rs 1,650 crore as a pan India licence price as the fee recommended by the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). The media fell for hook, line and sinker and the high decibel campaign against the scam led to a break-up in the Congress-DMK alliance, andRaja and Kanimozhi and other corporate honchos and senior bureaucrats suffered the ignominy of being jailed for some time.
But everyone forgot that there was a Parliamentary Committee report - a 500 page voluminous one - that dismissed the allegations of scam and maintained that it was only a matter of impropriety. If Raja went to jail, it was because of an impropriety in the first-come first-serve policy because when the priority was overtaken, when the cut-off date for the application was advanced it was found as an irregularity. Herein lies the key to the criminal misappropriation or forgery which was levelled against Raja.
What would be the ramifications of the acquittal now? Well, for the DMK it is god-send in every sense. The party is on a revival mode in Tamil Nadu, what with the mess that the AIIDMK has landed due to the demise of their Amma. The Opposition now has a very chance of taking a clean shot at the next elections. But far more important is the alliance drama that is going to ensue now. Will the DMK be obliged to join hands with the Congress again?
Or the BJP, which is continuing its Tom and Jerry show keeping its options open? Hushed voices, of course, are referring to the meeting of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the DMK chief M Karunanidhi in the recent times, without stating the obvious. The functioning of the CBI comes into question once again with today's verdict. The premiere investigating agency is facing people's trust-deficit due to the nudge it gets in targeting people including politicians. Today's verdict only strengthens that suspicion! Somewhere the truth has become the casualty in 2G issue.
