The DMK, a constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), on Thursday claimed that party leader and former communications minister A. Raja was not lying when he said the second-generation (2G) spectrum allocation was done with the knowledge and approval of then finance minister P. Chidambaram.
"Raja has not been denying or lying when he says senior officers and senior ministers were aware of the decision on spectrum," DMK leader and Tamil film actress Khushboo told the media.
The DMK assertion follows a controversy over a note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) from the finance ministry which said that Chidambaram could have prevented second- generation (2G) spectrum from being given away to telecom companies at seven-year-old prices by insisting on its auction, alluding that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.
Khushboo said Chidambaram was very much aware of the (spectrum allocation) development and it was under his guardianship that Raja had taken the decision of not changing the 2001 rates for spectrum allocation in end 2008.
"So, that comes as a big relief for us. For us, as the DMK, it definitely helps," Khushboo said, referring to the finance ministry note, which came to light through a Right to Information application.
Asked about the difference between the former finance minister and present Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on telecom spectrum allocation, Khushboo said it was a matter within the UPA and the ministers would have to resolve the matter among themselves.
Raja is in prison after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him in February in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation case.
His party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi too is in prison for alleged corruption in the same case.
Raja, in his defence, has been maintaining that his decision to allocate the 2G spectrum was taken with the approval and knowledge of his cabinet colleagues in the UPA government.