2G scam: Jayalalithaa launches fresh attack on A Raja

Firing a fresh salvo of criticism against former telecom minister A Raja on the second-generation (2G) mobile telephony spectrum allocation, AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa today posed a set of questions to him on the issue.

In a statement here, she wanted to know why Raja had flouted Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendations that the spectrum allocation should be done through auction, which was accepted by the Union cabinet.

She asked whether Raja got the cabinet sanction to allocate the 2G spectrum on priority basis and alleged that he had not gone by the recommendations of TRAI, which had said the prices fixed in 2001 were totally unacceptable.

She also wanted to know why Raja had rejected the law ministry's proposal that the spectrum price should be fixed by an empowered group of ministers.

Coming down heavily on the chief minister M Karunanidhi for 'defending' Raja, she said the DMK chief had been 'speaking untruths' on the scam only to 'deceive' the people.

On Karunanidhi's remarks that the principle of first-come-first-served was adopted only to help the people, she said most of the companies, which had been issued licenses, had not started their services, but had allowed foreign companies to pick up stakes in them.

On Karunanidhi's claim that mobile charges had come down due to the polices pursued by Raja, Jayalalithaa said it was an universal practice that the charges would come down if the usage was more.