Why no action on PM's 2G letter to Raja: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Thursday asked why no action was taken on a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his then telecom minister A. Raja on award of airwaves and felt that the severity of the case in question otherwise could have been different.

Two corporate executives accused in the second generation (2G) spectrum case, Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice H.L. Dattu also observed that the gravity of the alleged crime could have been different if action had been taken on the letter.

The letter written Nov 3, 2007 had raised several questions on the manner in which Raja was proposing to allocate the precious airwaves to telecom players and had also conveyed the industry's apprehensions in this regard. The letter favoured auction of airwaves.

But a reply the next day from Raja, now in judicial custody as the prime accused in the case, clearly said he will not change the policy of first-come-first-served to allocate the scarce resource but assured full transparency in the process.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the apex court's observations were serious and demanded a full explanation on the matter from the government.

Appearing for the prosecution, Additional Solicitor General Haren Rawal sought to draw a line of distinction between the action of Raja and the suggested inaction on the content of the letter written by the prime minister, which had favoured transparent auction.

Parties play politics over eviction notice

Today News: The eviction notice served by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to thousands of families living in Tughlaqabad village since the 14th century is slowly snowballing into a political issue. While the ASI takes the plea that the villagers have “encroached upon” the government land, the two prominent parties of Delhi — the Congress and the BJP — with their eyes set on upcoming Municipal elections, have openly come out in support of the villagers. 

A delegation of Congress leaders — south Delhi Member of Parliament Ramesh Kumar and Chhatarpur MLA Balram Tanwar among others — met chief minister Sheila Dikshit to reflect the tension prevailing in the village. 

The move came just two days after a BJP delegation, led by leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, and area MLA Ramesh Bidhuri met Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna “to bring the matter to his notice”.

Yet another group of local leaders with west Delhi MP Mahabal Misra also met union culture minister Kumari Selja to request her to intervene into the matter. Senior political leaders accept that if municipal elections had not been around the corner, the issue would not have seen so much political frenzy. The issue has been in Court for quite some time now, but never managed to gather so much political support. 

“Tughlaqabad is among several Gujjar villages that are spread in south, south west and west Delhi. The elections in these areas are fought and won with the support of Gujjar votes. The political leaders know that lending their support to the cause would help them get some support and votes in the municipal elections next year,”said a senior Congress leader.


With the Congress facing dual problems of Corruption and inflation at the Centre, the local leaders are making efforts get some support at the grassroot level. On the other hand, Tughlaqabad is one of two Assembly segments in Delhi where BJP managed to get more votes than the Congress could in the 2009 Parliament elections.

No politics in my fast

Key BJP ally JD(U) has categorically said that it will reject Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the PM candidate while BJP says the party will decide its leader at the right time and not in TV studios.

Narendra Modi ended his fasting on Monday evening but the debate rages on, on whether he will be able to see himself as a future Prime Minister.

Key BJP ally JD(U) made it clear that there is no way Modi can ever be accepted for the top job on India at 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai. "We will not accept Modi as a PM candidate," said Ali Anwar, JD(U) leader.

Mayavathi Vs Wiki

NEW DELHI (AP) — A top Indian politician lashed out at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday, saying he is either insane or being used as a tool of her opponents for releasing U.S. Embassy cables that describe her as a corrupt megalomaniac.

An October 2008 cable called Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, a powerful leader of the nation's bottom caste untouchables, a 'virtual paranoid dictator' who once sent a private jet to Mumbai to pick up a new pair of sandals.

The cable said Mayawati had institutionalized corruption throughout India's most populous state, charged potential candidates $250,000 to run for Parliament on her party's ticket and was obsessed with becoming prime minister. Similar allegations have been often been made by her political opponents too, but she has consistently denied them.

Mayawati told reporters the Wikileaks accusations were "malicious, incorrect and obscene."

"From this it appears that the owner of WikiLeaks has either gone mad or else this person has played into the hands of parties who oppose us and deliberately want to tarnish the image of our party and government," said Mayawati, who uses only one name.

She called for Assange to be sent to a mental asylum either in his home country of Australia or in Uttar Pradesh, and called news reports about the cables as 'dirty politics' and an attempt to besmirch India's untouchables, or dalits.

Assange responded quickly and equally sharply.

In a statement broadcast by at least two Indian news channels, he said Mayawati should "admit her error and apologize. Should she fail to do so, she is welcome to send her private jet to England to collect me, where I have been detained against my will, under house arrest, for the last 272 days.'"

"I would be happy to accept asylum, political asylum, in India — a nation I love. In return, I will bring Mayawati a range of the finest British footwear," NDTV reported him as saying.

Mayawati has been criticized for excessive displays of wealth and power in a state rife with poverty. Last year, she was photographed inside a gargantuan garland made of 1,000 rupee ($22) notes estimated to total more than $1 million. She has also spent millions on statues of herself and other dalit heroes, while the roads and health infrastructure of the state lie in tatters.

The U.S. Embassy cable painted her as a cosseted megalomaniac.

It quoted local journalists as saying that Mayawati employed nine cooks and two food tasters. She demanded personal security equivalent to a head of state and had a private road built between her home and office that was cleaned every time her extensive motorcade used it.

She once forced a state minister to do sit-ups in front of her as punishment for arriving without an appointment, the cable quoted the journalists as saying.

A separate cable said her chief of staff told U.S. officials that she had a "penchant for personal corruption and strong authoritarian streak."

In condemning the cables, Mayawati seemed unaware they were written by U.S. diplomats, instead assigning the blame for them directly to Assange, as well as to her rivals in the Bharatiya Janata Party, one of several parties challenging her rule in elections next year.

In denying the report she sent a jet to fetch sandals: "Maybe if this BJP leader knows about my sandals then he must have accompanied the owner of WikiLeaks to go in the special plane and buy me my sandals."

The U.S. cable did not say where the allegations about the sandals came from.

Mayawati also denied she employed nine cooks. "I feel that maybe they're (opponents) cleaning dishes in my kitchen and that's how they know this."

The cables also said Mayawati had cowed the press; many reporters thought their phones were tapped and feared losing their jobs if they were critical of her rule. She rarely addressed the media, the cables said, and when she did, she did not take questions, a practice she continued during Tuesday's press conference.

In his response, Assange said: "there is no question that the documents are official papers from the U.S. embassy. The allegations within them are made by U.S. diplomats in their private communications back to Hillary Clinton. If chief minister Mayawati has a problem with the contents of these communications, she needs to take it up with Hillary."

Govt may relent, put Prime Minister under Lokpal

NEW DELHI: Anxious to resolve the standoff with the Anna Hazare group over Lokpal, the government appeared set to relent on placing the Prime Minister within the jurisdiction of the anti-graft ombudsman. "We don't have any problem in placing PM within the scope of Lokpal," senior government sources indicated.

Parliament discussing only about the legislation approved by the Standing Committee, the re-think on including the PM in Lokpal is a significant concession as well as a tactical move to break the logjam. The government has taking fast steps in the process to draft a Grievance Redressal Bill which deals with corruption faced by the common man it getting licences and other clearances. The draft of the proposed law is expected to be put up for public discussion by this weekend.

The PM within Lokpal is taking help end Congress's isolation in Parliament. The BJP, Left and other parties like the DMK are opposed to keeping the PM outside the Lokpal's purview.

New Delhi: Anna Hazare's health was in bad condition, whose fast entered eighth day on Tuesday. Doctors have advised Anna Hazare, not to venture into the Sun as it could have a negative impact on his health. The doctors examined Hazare at the Ramlila Maidan, where he is sitting on an indefinite fast demanding a strong Lokpal Bill, late in the night. His health was little weak.. BP is in normal condition. His eyes are watery. A close aide Kiran Bedi said that his kidney was "infected" while another aide Arvind Kejriwal denied it. Though doctors have been maintaining that Hazare's health is fine, his close associates expressed worries over the health condition of the 73-year-old anti-corruption crusader. He lost over 5kg weight by fasting..

When asked about the August 30 deadline set for passing the Bill, Sisodia said Hazare has announced it and it is for him to decide the future course of action.

"There is no change in our stand. Formal talks have not yet begun," Sisodia said. Sisodia said a close aide of spiritual leader Baiyyuji Maharaj, who has emerged as a mediator, went to meet Hazare last night to submit a fresh proposal to end the standoff between the fasting activist and the government. However, the aide could not hand over a letter from Maharaj to Hazare as he was sleeping, Sisodia added. "The aide had come to meet Anna in the night.

As Anna was sleeping, volunteers did not allow a meeting and the aide left without handing over the letter...," Sisodia said.Earlier, a close aide of Maharaj claimed that the spiritual leader had a detailed meeting with Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid following which the fresh proposal was sent to the Gandhian. Maharaj, along with Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi, both of whom are known to Hazare, have been roped in by the government to initiate back-room negotiations to end the fast by 73-year-old Hazare demanding a strong Lokpal.