2G spectrum scam verdict: 'Imaginary' losses vanished into thin air like phantom, says DMK

Chennai: The DMK claimed that “imaginary” losses in 2G spectrum allocation have “vanished into thin air” like a “phantom” and the party has emerged as a giant. A high-level party meeting chaired by DMK working president MK Stalin yesterday claimed that “some hegemonic forces” had created an “imaginary account” of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss, a reference to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s estimate. [caption id=“attachment_4270783” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of DMK MP Kanimozhi and former telecom minister A Raja. Firstpost[/caption] In a resolution titled “The phantom called 2G — an imaginary account that vanished into thin air”, it alleged that the aim of such forces was to insult and weaken the DMK which had then “strived to ensure that a strong government” was in place at the Centre. The meeting lauded former telecom minister A Raja and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi for facing the case and securing their acquittal from a CBI court in Delhi last week. “The hegemonic forces concealed Raja’s feat of taking mobile telecom to poorer sections at lower costs and created an imaginary account of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss and blew it up and filed a case,” the resolution claimed. Hailing the acquittal of A Raja and Kanimozhi in the case last week, it said, “That imaginary account has now vanished into thin air… due to this just verdict, the DMK has taken a Vishwaroopam (a reference to the gigantic form of Lord Vishnu) like gold refined in the fire.” The CBI court had on December 21 acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and all other accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, bringing relief to the DMK which had suffered back-to-back defeats in 2011 and 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections and also the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. On the DMK’s loss in RK Nagar bypoll, the meeting said action would be taken against those who had not performed poll duties properly. It recalled that the party has already appointed a three-member panel to identify the reasons for its failure in the high-stakes contest. Rival AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who contested as an independent, won the bypoll securing 89,013 votes against ruling AIADMK nominee and nearest rival E Madhusudhanan’s 48,306 votes. DMK’s N Maruthu Ganesh came third securing 24,651 votes, in the process, losing deposit. The opposition party had put up a better show in 2016, when its candidate Shimla Muthuchozhan polled about 57,000 votes against then AIADMK supremo and late chief minister J Jayalalithaa who won the election.