Prime Minister Was Apprised About Telecom Issues: A Raja to Court

Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he had "apprised" the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about various telecom related issues, including allocation of 2G spectrum, after holding a meeting with Pranab Mukherjee, who was External Affairs Minister and then Solicitor General G E Vahanvati.

Defending himself in the ongoing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, Raja, one of the accused, said that in December 2007, he and Vahanvati had gone to meet Mukherjee and an "extensive discussion" took place between them on various telecom-related issues.

"Soon after the meeting (with Mukherjee and SG), I met the Prime Minister and apprised him of the happenings and outcome of the aforesaid meeting and I promised and undertook to give a detailed note in this regard," Raja told Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

"Accordingly, I sent a detailed letter containing issue based description to the Prime Minister on December 26, 2007," he said.

Raja had on Tuesday told the court that the then PM had asked him to have discussion with Mukherjee, who was heading the empowered group of ministers on vacation of spectrum, on issues related to telecom matters.

Regarding the meeting with Mukherjee and the then SG, Raja said that "an extensive discussion took place between Minister for External Affairs, SG and myself, issue-wise, as mentioned in the brief, namely, subscriber based criteria for allotment of spectrum, dual technology, new UASL applications for issuance of new licences and allocation of spectrum."

"At the end of the meeting, Minister for External Affairs shared with me that he was going to give a separate note to the Prime Minister in this regard and further directed me to apprise the Prime Minister separately," Raja, whose deposition will continue on Thursday, said.