DMK did not demand telecom portfolio, says Karunanidhi

CHENNAI - DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Monday refuted the charge that his party had demanded the communications portfolio for Andimuthu Raja in 2009 when UPA-II was formed after the Lok Sabha polls.

In a letter to his party cadres, Karunanidhi said during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government last year the Congress leaders discussed with him only the formula and not the portfolios.

According to him, the Congress had agreed to the list of names given by the party on who would join the government from the DMK.

He said Raja was given the telecom portfolio as he had held that post since May 2007 when Dayanidhi Maran resigned as communications minister.

He also stressed that no person recommended anybody for any ministerial portfolio.

Referring to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the spectrum allocation, he said the Rs.1.76 trillion loss stated there was only presumptive.

Karunanidhi said Raja had followed the policy of his predecessors in the allocation of second generation airwaves to telecom companies in 2008.

He wondered why the opposition had stalled parliament when the earlier CAG reports too mentioned the loss incurred to the government, and why the opposition was raking up the issue.

–Indo Asian News Service