Maharashtra chief minister Prithivraj Chavan, whose first priority is transparency in governance, will face the first test as how to tackle the all-powerful builders lobby which has huge influence on mantralaya (secretariat) in Mumbai.

Despite all-round clamour for the ouster of telecom minister A. Raja from the UPA government to ensure fair and impartial probe into the 2G scam case, the department of telecom under his command does not think that the minister’s continuation in the office would hamper the CBI investigation.

RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya on Saturday urged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to file a defamation suit against former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan for using defamatory language against her.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh wants reformed diesel policy as he feels that the real beneficiaries of diesel subsidy are owners of sports utility vehicles (SUV), which emit more carbon than non diesel ones. The minister also dismissed notions that electric cars would help in reducing carbon emission.
Speaking at a UN function the minister termed use of SUVs in countries like India as “criminal.”

Noting that India is “most vulnerable country” to climate change, environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday said the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was “put together” by experts who thought “they knew what the country knows best.” The minister pitched for involving common people in drafting policies in that regard.

Following an all-out attack by the Opposition on the 2G spectrum controversy, Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily came out in defence of telecom minister A. Raja on Friday.

Even as communication and IT minister A. Raja on Friday denied the charges against him in the 2G spectrum controversy, the Comptroller and Auditor General (GAG) is learnt to have said that the minister, “for no valid reasons” ignored the advice of law and finance ministries and allocated the spectrum at “less than its value, on flexible procedures adopted to benefit a few operators”.

Tamil Nadu has posed a big challenge for the Centre and the Congress high command on the issue of controversial 2G spectrum allocation and the role of telecom minister A. Raja in it. Now, they would either have to defend or disown him inside and outside Parliament. This is because the issue is uniting the Opposition whose target is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Alleging that the Congress had surrendered before its alliance partner, the DMK, the main Opposition BJP on Friday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must reply whether his office gave assent to 2G spectrum allocation without auction as suggested by telecom minister A. Raja. The party said Mr Raja had made PM a “co-accused” in the scam by suggesting that he kept the PM informed of every decision he took during 2G Spectrum allocation.

Both the RSS and the BJP on Friday expressed regret over derogatory remarks against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi by former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan, saying it was “unfortunate”.