Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 7, 2011
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Is-the-DMK-leaving-former-telecom-minister-A-Raja-to-his-fate/articleshow/8183358.cms
After the initial months of strong support
by the DMK, there is now more than a perceptible move by the party to distance
itself from an embattled A Raja.
Ram Jethmalani, senior counsel for Kanimozhi,
said in the court on Friday, "Assuming for a moment that it was at Raja's
instance that a bribe was paid to Kalaignar TV, what is the offence Kanimozhi
committed? She is only a minority shareholder and not a director in the board."
And, there were more than just murmurs of
approval among the host of DMK MPs and ministers who accompanied chief minister
M Karunanidhi's daughter into the special court trying the 2G spectrum case.
Faced with a barrage of questions from an
aggressive media on "Kanimozhi dumping Raja", DMK MP and spokesman
T K S Elangovan asserted, but with an embarrassed smile, "The proceedings
went off well. Jethmalani does not belong to DMK and does not hold any post
in the party. He is defending Kanimozhi and Raja will be defended by his advocate.
This is how court proceedings work."
In a lighter vein, he later remarked that
all the DMK MPs had talked to Raja, who also appeared in the court. "Your
cameras could not get those visuals," he said.
There is a palpable change in the DMK's attitude
towards the former telecom minister, admit a section in the party.
While it did not seem prudent to bring up
his name even once during the party's election campaign or be seen to parry
opposition barbs against him, Jethmalani's legal defence could well set the
tone within the DMK as far as Raja is concerned.
Soon after the spectrum scam broke out, the
DMK had strongly defended Raja, with Karunanidhi even stating that his once-close
confidante had done no wrong and that he had merely followed a system put
in place by his predecessors in the telecom ministry. On November 14, when
Raja was pressured to resign as telecom minister, Karunanidhi hailed him as
"one who would always retained the party's confidence".
The DMK supreme went on to add that "Raja
had discharged his duties with honesty, fairness and sense of duty".
But that was before his own daughter was indicted in the scam.
