New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) A day after the Supreme Court issued notice to him over the 2G (second generation) spectrum scam, Communication and Information Technology Minister A. Raja said the allegations against him are politically motivated.
‘No doubt it is politically motivated, some vested interest … some corporate war… putting together everything on,’ said Raja on the sidelines of an event organised by industry lobby FICCI.
The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to Raja, returnable within 10 days, on a petition alleging that he had connived with private telecom operators and ‘given away’ scarce national resources in the form of 2G spectrum at ‘throwaway prices’, causing a loss of at least Rs 70,000 crore to the exchequer.
The petition alleged that there were tapes of Raja talking to corporate middlemen. It said the department of telecom arbitrarily changed the cut off date for allocation of 2G spectrum licences under the first come first serve policy and awarded the licences to just 120 of the 575 applicants.
The successful companies were then allowed to sell equity and conduct private auctions to ‘garner large sums’.
