By IANS,
Chennai : Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK has gone into damage control mode and will hold public meetings in districts from Friday to explain its stand on the 2G spectrum scam, which has cost party leader A. Raja his ministership in New Delhi.
“The party has decided to explain to the people the whole spectrum allocation issue. Senior leaders and DMK MPs will address the meetings to be held from Friday,” DMK spokesperson and MP E.K.S. Elangovan told IANS.
“The media campaign on the spectrum issue is an offence against the party and it needs to be met effectively. The spectrum issue is being blown out of proportion,” he added.
The party campaign will be managed by propaganda secretary N. Siva, an MP.
DMK’s other propaganda secretary is the disgraced former communications minister Raja, who quit last month over irregularities in the spectrum allocation to mobile telephony companies.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report had estimated the presumptive loss to the government due to the spectrum scam at Rs.1.76 trillion (up to $40 billion).
“The loss is presumptive. But the media and others are blowing it up as if it is the actual loss,” Elangovan said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi Tuesday urged cadres to speak to people about what the party calls the misdeeds of AIADMK rule under its chief J. Jayalalithaa.
On the issue of the leaked Niira Radia tapes, DMK leaders say it is for Tata Group chief Ratan Tata to explain the hiring of the corporate lobbyist and her attempts to influence the formation of union government in 2009 – mainly to keep out Dayanidhi Maran from the telecom ministry.
Referring to the leaked tapes that refer to Maran paying Rs.600 crore to Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, a DMK leader told IANS: “Had that been true, then Maran would have got the telecom portfolio.”
Asked about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s two-day visit to Tamil Nadu from Wednesday, Elangovan said: “If the Congress gets strengthened, then it is good for the DMK-Congress alliance.”