3G put on hold?

The corridors of power in the Capital are buzzing with speculation that the much-awaited auction of 3G Spectrum services may not happen in the current financial year. The auction was supposed to raise some Rs35,000 crores for the central government kitty and help peg fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent.

But after the recent CBI raids on Department of Telecom offices, the proposed expansion of 3G services to include private players has got embroiled in corporate wars and the politics of the DMK’s first family. Apparently, the big daddies of telecom want the auction deferred till all contentious issues are sorted out. In particular, they want clarity on who’s the real boss for the sector, the DMK or the Congress.

It was the anticipated loss of revenue from the auction that seems to have prompted the government to go ahead with divestment plans in a big way. The finance ministry hopes to raise Rs30,000- 32,000 crore from the sale of shares in public sector undertakings before the financial year ends, plough the money into the Consolidated Fund of India and keep the deficit under control.

Interestingly, there hasn't been a peep out of the DMK although the Tamil party had put its opposition to divestment on record in Parliament. Is the DMK's silence on divestment linked to its tussle with the Congress over the auction of 3G services?

* * *
Shipping minister GK Vasan has dropped a bombshell on his bosses, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. He has asked for a lighter portfolio so that he can concentrate his energies on state politics. The reason for Vasan's panic is the gauntlet thrown by home minister P Chidambaram for leadership of the Congress in Tamil Nadu.

For the past two years, Chidambaram has been taking an active interest in  Tamil politics, taking time off from his busy schedule as a union minister to spend at least two days a week touring his home state. He was always seen as a Lone Ranger but he's now managed to create a coterie of supporters among Congress MPs and MLAs from the state.

At the last count, he could boast of at least three MPs in his corner while Vasan can't claim the unswerving loyalty of even one. All Tamil politicians are gearing up for the post-Karunanidhi phase in the state because of the interesting possibilities that it could throw up.

Chidambaram obviously has big plans for himself. It's a challenge that Vasan can't ignore. Ironically, Vasan's father G K Moopanar and Chidambaram were once comrades-in-arms when they parted ways with the Congress to form the Tamil Maanila Congress just before the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.
* * *
TAILPIECE
While things are quiet on the Karnataka front, for the moment at least, the Reddy brothers from Bellary may have trouble on their hands on the Andhra front. Andhra Pradesh chief minister, K Rosaiah, has launched an investigation against the brothers following complaints of illegal mining in Andhra districts bordering Bellary. He has appointed a crack team of officers close to him to prepare a preliminary inquiry report.

And there's talk about handing the investigations over to the CBI once the report is complete. It looks like the Bellary brothers are caught in a pincer movement with Hyderabad and Bangalore working in tandem to curb the influence of the Reddy gang.

While Yeddyurappa wants to cut the Bellary Reddys to size, Rosaiah's target is another Reddy, the late Y Rajsekhara Reddy's son, Jaganmohan, who hasn't given up his ambition to become AP chief minister.