CPM faces Opp. ire over ‘Radia links’
Adding to the sustained pandemonium in the Parliament over Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into alleged 2-G spectrum allocation scam, Congress and Trinamul Congress MPs on Monday flashed copies of The Asian Age containing the story — CPM squirms over Bengal government-Radia links — on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
While flashing the newspaper’s copies, the MPs were heard shouting — “comrades, now you need to explain this”.
The Asian Age in its Monday edition carried the story on front page explaining how the Left Front government in West Bengal hired corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s public relations and lobbying outfit Vaishnavi Corporate Communication. “Not only has Vaishnavi been representing the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the state’s information technology department, Ms Radia has also been directly interacting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,” The Asian Age report said.
Congress’ Idukki (Kerala) MP P.T. Thomas, who was the first to flash the copy of The Asian Age on the floor of Lok Sabha, said, “I raised the newspaper and showed it to the Left parties. They have all along been telling that they have no connection with Radia. They even went on to say that they did not know Radia.”
Amidst pandemonium in the House it was not audible in the press gallery as to what transpired between Mr Thomas and the Left leaders in the House. However later talking to reporters outside Parliament Mr Thomas said, “I asked the West Bengal and the Kerala comrades, what they had to say now. Since they were speechless, it actually showed their double standard.”
Lamenting on the behaviour of the left leaders, Mr Thomas, who claimed to have shown the newspaper to Samajwadi Party chief Mulaym Singh Yadav, said, “I told the comrades how hollow is there demand for JPC when you are supporting and aligning with Radia.”
Meanwhile, commenting on The Asian Age story in Kolkata Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Partha Chatterjee said, “There are many skeletons in the Left Front government’s cupboard and the Trinamul Congress will order an inquiry into the entire Singur affair after it comes to power.”
Claiming that it was a “sheer hypocrisy” on the part of the CPI(M), Mr Chatterjee said, “WBIDC and the state government’s IT department became clients of Radia’s company Vaishnavi only after the chief minister entered into an agreement with the Tata Motors for setting up the small car plant in Singur. This tie up raises many questions.”
At the regular party briefing in New Delhi, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari, while responding a query on the issue, while avoided naming CIP(M) or its leaders, said, “This is a disturbing trend that a corporate lobbyist is encompassing the entire public space. We need to seriously address the issue.”
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