Ramanisblog

Tag: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

  • Kanimozhi,Dayalu questioned at their Convenience!?

    Suspects are questioned at their convenience and at their place of choosing?

    Kanimozhi,while talking to reporters after interrogation states ‘they wanted to confirm what Kalaignar TV official said’!

    Racing against time to file the charge sheet on March 31 in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, the CBI today questioned DMK MP Kanimozhi, daughter of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, and his wife Dayalu Ammal at the DMK headquarters here.

    The questioning took place at Anna Arivalayam even as DMK leaders were holding talks with Congress counterparts in another room in the complex to identify 63 seats allotted to them for the April 13 Tamil Nadu assembly polls .

    “We are answering everything and whatever is required. We are cooperating with CBI, unlike many political leaders who don’t. That really talks for itself of our intention of coming out clean,” Kanimozhi told reporters.

    The CBI team, which reached here early this morning, also questioned Sharad Kumar, Managing Director of Kalaignar TV channel, in which both Dayalu Ammal and Kanimozhi collectively hold 80 per cent stake, at the channel’s office which is housed in the DMK Headquarters, official sources said.

    The rest of the stake is held by Sharad Kumar.

    The investigators questioned the three regarding their stake in the TV channel which has allegedly received Rs 214 crore from Shahid Balwa promoted company which was a beneficiary of the spectrum allocation made by former Union Minister A Raja, sources said.

    Kanimozhi was also questioned about her telephonic conversation with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia which were tapped by Income Tax department, sources said.

    Kalaignar TV had recently denied CBI’s allegations that there was a connection between scam accused Shahid Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom and the channel, with the agency telling a court that “it has also come to light that there was a transaction of Rs 214 crore from Cineyug Films Private Limited to Kalaignar TV in 2009”.

    http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?714721

  • DMK caves in,allots 63 seats to Congress.

    Flag of a tamil nadu political party, Dravida ...
    Image via Wikipedia

    Azhagiri stated, in reply to reporters’ question on the impasse  with Congress on seat sharing,

    ‘If you are happy I am happy,we are going ahead with election work’

    Now Azhagiri is the first person to meet Congress Leaders in Delhi.

    DMK Minister Durai Murugan is reported  to have asked P.Chidambaram, in the earlier talks that led to impasse(in fact this is one of the reasons for Congress being adamant)

    “If we allot 63 seats do you have enough people to stand in the elections?”

    Well, Karunbanidhi is the man who organised the stoning of Indira Gandhi in Madurai way back and a case was also filed.

    When Sarkaria commission held him guilty and declared that the ‘DMK has invented Scientific Corrupton”, he immedaitely declared

    ‘Indira, daughter of Nehru,please come,provide us with a stable Government’.( the Tamil sentence rhymes nicely).

    (”நேருவின் மகளே வருக,நிலையான ஆட்சி தருக)

    Neither the  Congress nor the  DMK has any sense of shame.

    Parties used to ally with other for principles before.

    Now they declare openly they do it because of voter percentages for the parties.

    Common man is being taken for granted. as usual.

    As an aside , if the parties are so sure of percentages why conduct elections and waste public Money?

    They can as well declare results on the basis of the parties’ percentages.

    New Delhi/Chennai, March 8 (IANS) After a three-day tense drama that triggered a major crisis for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tamil Nadu‘s ruling DMK Tuesday finally allowed the Congress to contest 63 of the 234 seats in next month’s assembly elections.

    After suddenly ending seven years of support to the Manmohan Singh government over the Congress insistence on fighting from 63 constituencies instead of 60 as desired by DMK, the two parties announced an equally dramatic truce capping days of secret negotiations.

    Congress leader and central Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the party in charge of Tamil Nadu, made the announcement as DMK central ministers M.K. Azhagiri — elder son of Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi — and Dayanidhi Maran looked on.

    ‘The Congress will be contesting 63 seats. Now we have unanimously come to the conclusion that … the alliance will work together,’ a beaming Azad told reporters in New Delhi.

    ‘We will ensure that entire alliance is back to power. This is a winning alliance,’ Azad added.

    Azhagiri, who played a key role in ensuring that the DMK-Congress marriage continued, echoed his sentiments. He did not go into details.

    Azhagiri and Maran called on Gandhi Monday night after talks with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Azad, who were adamant that the Congress would not budge on its demand for 63 seats

    Informed sources in Chennai said the DMK and two of its allies, the PMK and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), would give up a seat each from their quota to meet the Congress demand of 63 seats.

    Naturally, Azad gave due credit to Tamil Nadu’s smaller parties.

    ‘Apart from DMK and Congress, there is PMK, there is VCK, and Muslim League. So all put together, this is a winning alliance,’ said Azad, who had cancelled a scheduled meeting in Chennai with Karunanidhi over the weekend amid escalating tensions.

    With this announcement, the DMK has signed electoral pacts with six parties involving 113 of the 234 seats. The six are: Congress (63), KMK (7), MMK (1), VCK (10), PMK (30) and IUML (2).

    The PMK and IUML were earlier allotted 31 and three seats respectively.

    http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5007731

  • Maran in 2 G scam?

    Seems to have been a systematic operation by DMK  to swindle.

    Look at their insistence on getting Telecom Ministry earlier.

    For more read my Blogs filed under Corruption/India,Radia Tapes.

    A CBI source told TEHELKA that there is a watertight case against Raja and DB Group MD Shahid Balwa. “We have tracked 2G spectrum money worth Rs. 200 crore, which was transferred from DB Group to DMK’s Kalaignar TV,” said a source. “We are only waiting for a reply to our letter rogatory (LR) sent to Mauritius about a month ago.” This query is about Mauritius- based Delphi Investments, which has stakes in Swan Telecom. The reply will only throw up names of some more beneficiaries in the scam. The puzzle about Unitech’s role is also more or less solved. The CBI will next investigate the allocation of spectrum during Maran’s stint….

    Maran’s tenure was marked by massive growth of Internet subscribers. Also, the share of foreign direct investment in telecom services was raised from 49 percent to 74 percent. In fact, Maran was also credited with massive cuts in mobile and landline call rates. But initial probes indicate that 2G spectrum money worth Rs. 1,000 crore was traded during Maran’s tenure.

    In three years, Maran allocated over 70 GSM spectrum. C Sivasankaran, known for his unorthodox business style, had launched the Aircel brand in Tamil Nadu just four months before Maran took over. He was once a close confidant of Maran’s father Murasoli Maran in the 1990s. But he fell out with Maran when the Tatas aligned with Aircel. It was therefore not surprising that Maran targeted the Tatas and Aircel immediately after he took over as telecom minister. Tata Sky was in direct competition with Sun Network owned by Maran’s brother Kalanidhi.

    Sivansankaran did an excellent job of promoting Aircel in Tamil Nadu. Within a year, he bought his rival RPG Cellular in the state and brought over 2.2 million subscribers into his net. Though Sivasankaran is known for launching new projects, building them up and then selling out, the CBI is intrigued by his sudden exit from Aircel. Almost a year after Maran took over, Sivasankaran sold his stakes to Malaysian company Maxis Communications and Apollo Group of Hospitals owner Dr Pratap C Reddy for Rs. 4,700 crore. Reddy came close to the Maran family in 2000, when Murasoli was cured of a rare type of cardiac condition by Apollo Hospital, Chennai. After Reddy became part-owner of Aircel, the ministry under Maran appeared to become extra generous to Aircel

    Smooth operator C Sivasankaran fell out with the Marans after linking up with the Tatas 

    PHOTO: INDIA TODAY GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

    In 2004, when Tata joined hands with Dishnet Wireless (now Aircel) , Dishnet sought licences under the Unified Access Service regime. The telecom secretary had endorsed the application, but Maran’s office put up a note demanding details that were ‘vague’ and ‘irrelevant’, says the Justice Shivraj Patil Committee report. Its mandate was to look into procedural lapses during 2001-09 in the telecom ministry.

    After Aircel’s owners changed, the report reveals Maran cleared allocation of spectrum for Dishnet in Kolkata within a day. Dishnet has a cellular service in West Bengal, but it didn’t have spectrum. On 4 April 2007, a proposal was put up for allocation. Telecom Secretary DS Mathur cleared the proposal within a day, with a note that the matter had been discussed with Maran. Maxis, which holds 74 percent stake in Aircel, also has a sizeable investment in Sun Network thorough its sister concern Astro. Dr Reddy and his family reportedly control 26 percent in Aircel.

    The Sun TV-Tata Sky spat over channel sharing was well known and Maran had a considerable say in Tata’s cellular and communication plans. Sun TV refused to comply with the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal’s directive to provide its channels to Tata Sky on an a la carte basis. Sun TV later stalled the process by obtaining a HC stay and thus gained time before the launch of its own DTH venture.

    JUSTICE PATIL’S report has also faulted Maran’s functioning. Recounting procedural lapses, the report says that Maran did not consult the Telecom Commission, the telecom department’s decision-making body, and ignored the Group of Ministers (GOM) while taking crucial policy decisions.

    “Actions during Maran’s tenure fell foul of the procedures laid down in the Government of India (Transactions of Business) Rules, which stipulate that when a policy has any financial bearing, no orders shall be issued without the concurrence of the finance ministry. The minister deviated from ‘extant policy’ by not discussing the issue of determining the entry fee for telecom licence with the finance ministry,’’ the report reads.

    Maran also had his say on the crucial issue of spectrum pricing, which has been a controversial aspect of the 2G scam. He overruled a GOM constituted by the PM and got spectrum pricing removed from its terms of reference, despite strong reservations expressed by the finance ministry.

    http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne050311IMARAN.asp

     

  • Congress might ally with AIADMK,Chidambaram.

    Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, United Progressive ...
    Image via Wikipedia

     

    Home Minister Chidambaram is reported to have said’Congress is a big tree,if one leave withers two will sprout’.(Headlines Today report of date)

    Toughening of Congress stance.

    If Congress joins AIAMK,with Vijayakanth already in AIADMK alliance,DMK is as good having lost the elections.

    Rahul Gandhi seems to be not in favour of DMK.

    However, Sonia Gandhi does not seem to have forgotten the snub of Jayalaithaa and seems to be favoring DMK.

    Probably Congress may be accommodated in the DMK alliance with about 65 seats.

    Let’s see.

    Congress is reported to have demanded the include ‘power sharing‘ in the manifesto.

    Karunanidhi would never agree to that.

    I am not sure of power sharing  at all by DMK.

    Although the talks between the Congress and the DMK got stuck on the issue of the number of seats, leaders of both parties reported “forward movement” on the issue of power-sharing.

    A senior Congress leader involved in the talks said the DMK had “informally” agreed to the proposal for power-sharing.

    However, while the DMK does not want a pre-election formal agreement on the issue, the Congress is adamant that a firm commitment on a coalition government be made right now.

    “We want them to declare this (power-sharing) openly,” another Congress member said.

    The toughening of the Congress position on seat-sharing for the Assembly election was made possible by the full backing of AICC president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, it is learnt.

    On Friday, when leaders of the DMK and the Congress came to the negotiation table, the Congress team, led by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, made it clear that his party would not settle for anything less than 90 seats.

    The DMK leaders were not prepared for the “substantial increase” as they claimed to have only 53 seats to offer.

    http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/27/stories/2011022762580100.htm

    A senior Congress leader involved in the talks said the DMK had “informally” agreed to the proposal for power-sharing.

    http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/27/stories/2011022757610100.htm

     

  • Burkha Dutt ,Radia and Barkha’s Reply,Audio.

     

    In her reply Burkha Dutt nowhere denies her part.

    She is angry as to why others have not been exposed!

    Barkha Dutt:

    • Barkha–18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851 
    • Barkha–33-188819-0-21-20090522-095845 
    • Barkha Dutt-02-188819-0-01-20090522-104733 
    • Barkha–11-188819-0-07-20090522-153129 
    • Barkha–09-188819-0-04-20090522-180916 
    • Barkha-14-188819-0-08-20090522-192357 

    To download the file, right click on: Barkha–18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851.mp3 and choose Save

    http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268327

     

    Barkha Dutt: Hi Niira

    Niira Radia:  Hi, did I wake you up?

    Barkha Dutt: No, no, no. I’ve been up, yaa, most of the night. The stalemate continues, yaa.

    Niira Radia:  Yeah. Listen, the thing is that they need to talk to him directly. That is what the problem is.

    Barkha Dutt: Apparently now, the message from the other side is, that why did he go? Why did Baalu [T.R. Baalu, former DMK minister] go public? They claim that at this point will they had offered him this formula and this guys said, “no”. This guys never told them they were going to withdraw support. Not withdraw support. But outside support. Apparently, PM was really pissed off ‘ cause they had went public.

    Niira Radia:  But that’s Baalu’s doing, naa… he was not instructed by Karunanidhi to do that.

    Barkha Dutt: Oh, he wasn’t?

    Niira Radia:  This is not. He was told to come away and tell Congress that.

    Barkha Dutt: And he went public

    Niira Radia:  Well, the media… media, the media was standing outside.

    Barkha Dutt: Oh God. So now what? What should I tell them? Tell me what should I tell them?

    Niira Radia:  I’ll tell you what it is—the problem and I have had a long chat with both his wife and with the daughter, right?

    Barkha Dutt: Haan, haan.

    Niira Radia:  The problem is if the Congress has a problem with Baalu, if they have no problem with anyone. They need and go talk to Karunanidhi. They have very good relationship with Karunanidhi directly.

    Barkha Dutt: Correct, haan.

    Niira Radia:  Because you see, in front of Baalu, in front of Maran, they can’t talk.

    Barkha Dutt: Yeah

    Niira Radia:  So they have to tell him directly, there [are] enough Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu. They need to go in and tell him exactly—the biggest problem is that the following of Azhagiri is saying that you cannot give Maran a cabinet post and keep Azhagiri in the MoS state.

    Barkha Dutt: That’s right. But will Karuna drop Baalu?

    Niira Radia:  He… look, if you tell him that Baalu is the only problem. I would imagine, he will drop him.

    Barkha Dutt: But you see the problem right now is also over the choice of portfolios, naa…

    Niira Radia:  No. They’ve not said anything. The portfolios have not even got discussed.

    Barkha Dutt: Congress claims, for whatever it’s worth, that the DMK wanted surface transport, power, IT, telecom, railways and health.

    Niira Radia:  Wo tho pehle se list gaya tha

    Barkha Dutt: Haa, abhi Congress has offered IT, telecom, chemical, fertilizer and labour

    Niira Radia:  Yes

    Barkha Dutt: So this is where it’ll stand off. Will DMK accept all (or both)?

    Niira Radia:  Maybe no, because they have to drop Maran if you want them to be accept… Maran is wishing coal and mine.

    Barkha Dutt: Who’s wishing?

    Niira Radia:  Now Maran is saying, you give me coal and more mine. If he.. my honest advice to… is that you need to tell them… tell him directly that we are happy because Kani (M.K.Kanimozhi, Karundanidhi’s daughter) got no issue about being even as independent but Azhagiri is now telling her that you cannot take an independent charge if Maran remains cabinet minister. And congress is sending messages through media and through various sources saying that… Maran is going around telling everyone that he is the only acceptable person.

    Barkha Dutt: Ya, ya, ya. That I know.

    Niira Radia:  But that’s not correct na?

    Barkha Dutt: No, I know and we’ve (NDTV) have taken that off… We’ve have taken that off.

    Niira Radia:  But also… Congress needs to tell Karunanidhi that we have not said anything about Maran

    Barkha Dutt: OK. let me talk to them again

    Niira Radia:  Yeah? The choice of candidate we will leave to you. We have some reservation about Baalu. And let them tell the reservation. And we have not said anything about Maran. We are not asking…

    Burkha Dutt’s Reply:

    Society, the monthly lifestyle magazine of the Magna group owned by Nari Hira, has a cover story on Vir Sanghvi andBarkha Dutt in its January 2011 issue.

    For the first time, the two journalists most affected by theNiira Radia tapes, appear on the same platform.

    In her one-page interview, Dutt states:

    “I can’t comment on why the leakage has been so selective. But clearly, the conversations have been cherry picked and, in the interests of transparency, I think all 5,000-plus conversations should now be made public.”

    “My viewers don’t need to be disheartened. The way the story has been presented is so caricatured and distorted that it is made to look in a certain way. I am still the same journalist that I always was. I strongly object to the way these stories have been written.”

    http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/vir-sanghvi-barkha-dutt-we-were-targete

    http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268327

    Burkhs Dutt’s Reply.


    As a journalist, whose work has been consistently hard-hitting and scathingly critical of the ongoing 2G scam and the former Telecom Minister, I am astonished, angered and hurt to see the baseless allegations against me in sections of the media this week.

    While there is no doubt that journalists must be held to the same exacting standards of accountability that we seek from others, the allegations in this instance, as they relate to me, are entirely slanderous and not backed by a shred of evidence. The edited conversations between PR Representative Nira Radia and me have been headlined to suggest that I misused my role as a journalist to “lobby” for A. Raja, a man I have never met.

    While this is completely untrue, I can understand the anger and anguish that such a misrepresentation can create, among viewers who rely on me to report honestly and impartially. And I would like to address some of the questions raised by these edited transcripts.

    The tapes seem to add up to hundreds of hours of conversations between Nira Radia and people from different backgrounds, including scores of well-known journalists and editors from all the major media organisations (TV and Print) in India. Despite this, much of the commentary has been strangely selective in its focus. And quite often, vindictively personal. Consider, for example, that online it is being dubbed “BarkhaGate.”

    I cannot speak on behalf of any other journalist on the tapes. Framed in the backdrop of a larger media debate, every journalist’s conversation on these tapes must, of course, be evaluated on its own merit. So, speaking only for myself, the insinuation made by the magazines are preposterous.

    By definition, the insinuation of “lobbying” implies either a quid-pro-quo of some kind or a compromise in how I have reported the story. As anyone who has watched my coverage of the ongoing 2G scam over the past year would know – to suggest either is entirely absurd. (ATTACHED BELOW ARE LINKS TO SEVERAL SHOWS HOSTED BY ME ON THE 2G SCAM OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS). In several different statements, I have already challenged two newsmagazines who first carried the allegations to establish any proof of a quid-pro quo or a bias in reportage. I know that neither charge stands the test of any scrutiny.

    For those perplexed by the ongoing debate, it could be useful to understand the context in which these conversations took place. The few, short conversations took place in the backdrop of cabinet formation in 2009, when the DMK had stormed out of the UPA coalition over portfolio allocation.

    In this instance, Nira Radia, was clearly plugged into the inner workings of the DMK, a fact we only discovered when she rang up to tell me that the news flashes running on different news channels were incorrect; the stalemate between the DMK and the Congress had not yet been resolved. She corroborated her claim by saying she was in direct contact with the DMK chief and was in fact with his daughter, Kanimozhi. We talked about news developments within the DMK and the Congress and nothing I said was different from what I was reporting on TV minute-by-minute.

    Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/page/?type=barkha-statement&cp