15 November,2010 07:49 AM IST | | Agencies
Putting up a brave front, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi last night said Union Telecom Minister A Raja was asked to resign by DMK only to allow the functioning of Parliament, maintaining that he had only followed the policy adopted from 1999 in spectrum allocation.
In the net: Telecom Minister A Raja has been in the firing line of the
opposition since last two years
"We have asked Raja to resign only to allow the functioning of parliament which we consider the mother of democracy in India," the DMK patriarch said shortly after Raja submitted his resignation in Delhi. The stalling of Parliamentary proceedings during the last one year was part of a pre-planned effort to get the ouster of Raja, a Dalit who had totally dedicated himself to the cause espoused by leaders like Dr B R Ambedkar, Karunanidhi said.
"Raja is my affectionate brother," he said. Earlier, a DMK release said Raja was asked to resign to allow Parliament to function so that issues of public importance could be taken up.
As the opposition went all out seeking his sacking, Raja had met Karunanidhi twice since last night before returning to Delhi where he handed in his resignation to the Prime Minister.
Andimuthu Raja (47), has been in the firing line of the opposition since last two years with the CAG's recent findings on the alleged spectrum scam providing fresh ammunition to it to step up its offence. Prior to departure to Delhi, Raja, who had defended all his actions, had ruled out quitting saying there was no need for it.
Following Tharoor
Raja is the second minister to exit the one-and-a-half-year-old UPA-II under a cloud after Shashi Tharoor was forced to resign as Minister of State for External Affairs in the wake of the IPL controversy.
Opposition parties, which have been gunning for Raja, welcomed his resignation, saying it was a victory for public opinion but demanded an impartial inquiry into the whole scam and registration of a criminal case to bring the truth out.
After meeting the Prime Minister, Raja said he had not done anything wrong. "We wanted to send a message to the people that, as I said both inside Parliament and outside, I brought about a revolution in the telecom sector. When I took over there were only 300 million connections in the country.
Due to my efforts and endeavours, today's teledensity in the country is 729 million," he said "We did whatever we could for the people and my conscience is very clear and I put in my papers based on the advice from my leader."
