A Raja writes to Manmohan Singh: Understand compulsions that prevented you from supporting me in 2G case

Former Telecom minister A Raja after he was acquitted by a special court in the 2G scam case in New Delhi on December 21. (File Photo)

Replying to a letter from former telecom minister A Raja, who wrote to Manmohan Singh that he could “understand the compulsions that prevented you from openly supporting” him, the former prime minister said he was happy that the DMK leader was vindicated in the case. DMK leader Raja, who was minister in Singh’s government, was acquitted in the 2G spectrum allocation case last month.

Following his acquittal in the case, Raja had written to Singh, recalling his past assurances that he had done nothing wrong and acted in the national interest, but the former PM did not back him. “I also understand the compulsions that prevented you from openly supporting me,” Raja said. The letter written on December 26, 2017, stated that a few powerful people launched a propaganda machinery against the then UPA government and mislead the Parliament and the judiciary in the 2G case. “It cost you the UPA government and seven years of my life, including 15 months in jail,” the former telecom minister said.

A Raja’s letter to Manmohan Singh on December 26, 2017. (Source: ANI) Manmohan Singh’s letter to A Raja on January 2. (Source: ANI)

Recalling his stand in the matter that he did no wrong in allocating UAS and 2G licences, Raja said he understood the compulsions that prevented the former PM from openly supporting him at that time. “You will recall that I assured you several times that I had done nothing wrong but rather acted in the national interest and I would prove this,” the letter stated.

The DMK leader then went on to say how he ensured that the former PM’s image was not tarnished during the trial proceedings despite no backing from the government. “Unlike some senior Cabinet colleagues, I ensured that you did not suffer personal embarrassment in the trial proceedings. Now that the truth about the 2G case is out in the open, perhaps you too could come forward in my support,” Raja said.

The former PM expressed happiness on Raja being vindicated and acknowledged the suffering the DMK leader and his family went through during the testing times. “I am very happy that you stand vindicated. You and your family have suffered greatly in the process and we are greatly relieved that truth has prevailed,” Singh wrote back to Raja in a letter dated January 2.

A CBI court acquitted DMK’s A Raja and Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum allocation case on December 21. Reading the verdict, the CBI judge had said, “I do not find any merit in the submission of prosecution that the revision of entry fee was not resorted to due to conspiratorial reasons to help the two accused companies to obtain spectrum at as low a price as was discovered in 2001. There is no merit in the submission of prosecution that it amounted to the abuse of power by A Raja.”