Dayanidhi Maran pressurized PM on 2G pricing: Reports

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to face more trouble over the 2G allocation scam with a letter from Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Dayanidhi Maran surfacing the media that says he was under pressure on the spectrum pricing.

The letter, sent by then-Union Telecom Minister Maran to PM, reveals that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) succumbed to the DMK pressure.

Times Now news channel claims to have received a copy of the letter that says: “You had kindly assured me that the Terms of Reference of the GOM would be drawn up exactly the way we wanted it which was to focus only on the issue of vacation of spectrum. The GOM has much wider Terms of Reference, which impinge upon the work of the ministry itself. I will be grateful if you could kindly instruct the concerned to modify the Terms of Reference as suggested by us.”

Maran had allegedly asked the PM not to interfere in the spectrum pricing.

“It has become an extremely serious matter now after this revelation. A minister of the alliance partner was arm-twisting the PM! The PM’s personal culpability has now increased. The government has a lot to explain now,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley told reporters here on Thursday night.

The 2G Spectrum scam spelt more embarrassment for the Central government on Thursday as the Supreme Court (SC) sought an affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister for his inordinate delay in acting against the scam while Opposition stalled proceedings in the Parliament over the scam.

Also, allegations of no response from the PMO to his repeated letters seeking sanction to prosecute former Telecom minister A Raja in the scam continued from Janata Dal leader Subramanium Swamy.

The SC on Thursday asked for the filing of an affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister on his delay in acting against the 2G Spectrum Scam.

On Tuesday, the court had asked the government to explain why the PM took 11 months to respond to a request by former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy that asked for Raja to be prosecuted for the 2G scam.

Swamy said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had never written back to his requests for sanctioning prosecution of Raja on the 2G scam and instead forwarded the request letter to the tainted minister against whom action was sought.

Swamy said since November 29, 2008, he had written five times to the Prime Minister ?each time with additional documents?, but got no reply.

He said the only reply came from A Raja himself to whom the PM had forwarded his letter for prosecution.

Telecom Minister A Raja last Sunday resigned while a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the huge losses to the exchequer (Rs 1.76 lakh crore) was tabled in Parliament.