DMK backs tainted Raja

2G scam: Mere arrest does not amount to conviction

The DMK general council which met in Chennai claimed the party had “nothing to hide” on the issue.

Even as Raja has sent a letter offering to resign from all his party posts on “moral grounds”, the meeting of the party adopted a political resolution asserting that “mere arrest of a person in a case does not amount to conviction.”

The meeting held at the party headquarters ‘Anna Arivalayam’ was chaired by the party president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

Refusing to be cowed down by a volley of opposition protests, demanding a detailed probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the scam, the DMK said that they pegged all their arguments on just ‘one piece of evidence, namely the CAG report’.

“But the CAG has also pointed to the losses to the exchequer as a result of the spectrum allocation policy taken by the previous BJP-led regime. It was only now though, that Raja under the UPA regime was being targeted,” the DMK stated in its resolution.

Scoffing at the Opposition demand for a JPC probe, the party maintained that Raja’s arrest had come with the CBI vigorously pursuing the case. “Yet, the Opposition insisting on a JPC even after having stalled Parliament’s recent winter session, is patently undemocratic,” it added.

In another resolution, the DMK acknowledged that Karunanidhi’s latest meeting with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in Delhi “has confirmed continuation of the DMK-Congress” alliance in the upcoming Assembly polls.

While being soft on the Centre on several issues, the DMK nonetheless condemned the continued attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. For the first time, the DMK urged that India’s agreement with Sri Lanka ceding ‘Katchatheevu’ island should be reopened to incorporate the traditional fishing rights of TN fishermen in the Palk Straits.  Karunanidhi also indicated that the DMK would not have any truck with the PMK in the upcoming Assembly elections.