THE 2G SCAM

A Raja , recently resigned as the telecom minister in the union ministry following the 2G scam issue. However, the minister refused to resign till he found that there was no way, but to quit. In the past we have seen ministers like Shashi Tharoor giving up their positions in the ministry owing to such controversies. In such situations , the people's representatives who hold important positions in the ministry, are expected to clear the air by resigning from those positions and cooperate with further investigations. They have the responsibility to prove their innocence before the public, who are supposed to be the real rulers in democracy. Hesitation in doing that may spoil the whole situation because 'Credibility once lost cannot be regained'.

As of now, former minister A Raja may not be proved guilty. Even after quitting, he sticks to his claim of being innocent. However , the right way to go about it is to quit from position and prove his innocence. In this regard , it is a positive sign to know that he has quit as the telecom minister. However , the process has to be completed by bringing out the truth in this issue.

A Raja claims that he followed the path set by his predecessors in this regard. However, the Times Of India (TOI) reports that this claim is not true on the basis of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) . It says that in November 2007, The honourable Prime minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh had written to the Telecom ministry to adopt a more transparent method of auction. It also says that CAG's report has held Raja guilty of favouring certain companies in the auction. Raja had issued a press release on 10 January 2008 , giving companies just 45 minutes to assemble at the DoT to collect the response letters to their applications. However it is said that a few companies were even ready with a demand draft drawn on dates before the day of auction. This says that they already knew about the issue of press release . This report turns things against the former minister .