Government to probe ex-BJP minister's link with Radia

Monday December 27, 2010 05:31:11 PM, IANS

Chennai: The central government will investigate whether any official information was leaked to corporate lobbyist Niira Radia by Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ananth Kumar when he was the civil aviation minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, a minister said here Monday.

"The revelation that Radia is close to Kumar is a slap on the BJP's face. The government will investigate whether any official decision were passed on to Radia by Kumar," Minister of State of Culture, Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy said,

"The sharing of official information to Radia is an anti-national act," Narayanasamy told reporters here.

Radia's former business partner Rao Dheeraj Singh in an interview to a television channel last week alleged that Kumar and Radia were known to each other well.

Narayanasamy said Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has called a meeting of all parties' leaders in New Delhi Dec 30 and 31 to sort out the logjam in the conduct of parliament.

He described the stalling of parliament proceedings for 22 days by the opposition parties in general, more particularly the BJP, as "anti-democratic". It cost the nation around Rs.33 crore, he said.

"Many of the parties demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum scam may not be able to have their members in it. A party should have at least 17 members in parliament to be included in the JPC," he said.

"The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has sufficient powers to look into the issue of spectrum allotment and the loss incurred to the government from it. The PAC is looking into the issue for the past eight months," Narayanasamy said.

Asked why was the Congress party reluctant for a JPC probe into the Rs.1.76 trillion scam, Narayanasamy said: "Going by the past experience, the JPC probe is ineffective."

He pointed out that the JPCs that probed the Bofors gun deal, the two securities-stock market scams and the row over pesticides in colas did not come out with any great findings.

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