What wrong has Raja done, asks Karunanidhi

CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Friday came out strongly in defence of his tainted DMK colleague and central minister A. Raja and said there was no need for him to quit.

The issue found echo in the Tamil Nadu assembly as well, with the ruling DMK hitting out at the AIADMK over J. Jayalalithaa’s unconditional offer of support to the Manmohan Singh government.

“What wrong has he done? He only went by the rules,” Karunanidhi told reporters here amid growing clamour for the communications and IT minister’s sacking from the cabinet on account of the 2G spectrum scam.

Karunanidhi’s comments came a day after AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa pledged to support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government if Raja’s dismissal led the DMK to withdraw its legislative support.

The issue came up in the assembly too.

“You knocked the doors at Delhi and it has not opened,” Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan told AIADMK’s O. Pannerselvam in an oblique reference to Jayalalithaa’s offer to the Congress Thursday.

Pannerselvam retorted that the doors would open soon.

At which, Karunanidhi added: “We will know whether the doors will open or not.”

The opposition parties in New Delhi and the state are demanding Raja’s dismissal on account of the loss to the exchequer in the 2008 allotment of 2G spectrum.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has estimated the loss to be over Rs.170,000 crore.