Raja's share investments shot up 170% during last one year
NEW DELHI: Former Telecom Minister A Raja's investment in shares and fixed deposists have increased by nearly 170 per cent from 8.52 lakh to a little over Rs 23 lakh during one year, annual property returns of the Ministers provided by Prime Minister's Office in an RTI reply show.
In the year 2008-09, the minister has invested Rs 8.52 lakh in shares while his wife had an investment of 3.04 lakh in the shares but in the year ending March 31, 2010, Raja's investments in shares increased to a little over Rs 23 lakh. His spouse's investment have also increase by Rs Six lakh, the property returns filed by the Minister show.
The details came through the reply to an RTI application filed by S C Agrawal seeking to know the latest asset details of the Ministers of the Union Cabinet .
Raja, who resigned following the controvesy surrounding alleged corruption in the allotment of telecom spectrum, invested in 19 companies including Public Sector Undertakings, airlines, software companies among others.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee who had declared assets worth Rs 6.7 Lakh last year has shown an increase of nearly 40 per cent with declared properties and cash touching little over Rs 10 lakh this year.
Defence Minister A K Antony's movable property showed a marginal dip this year. Antony had declared Rs 1.8 lakh in his two bank accounts but this year his account had a little over Rs 84,000 only.
One of the richest member of Union Council of Ministers , Minister of state for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia has also shown a marginal increase in his assets from Rs 22.7 crore in 2009 to Rs 24 crore this year, the reply showed.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's movable and immovable properties have shown a marginal increase from Rs one crore during fiscal ending 2009 to Rs 1.10 crore during 2010. Although his three out of four properties have not shown any increment in their value, his ancestoral property has shown an increase of about Rs 16,000.
Home Minister P Chidambaram's declaration also showed a similar trend with his assets growing marginally from Rs 10.3 crore to Rs 10.4 crore this year. The Minister also took advance of Rs 3.5 lakh, the RTI reply shows.
Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma's assets increased by nearly 29 per cent from Rs 2.6 crore in 2009 to 3.4 crore in fiscal ending March 31, 2010
In the year 2008-09, the minister has invested Rs 8.52 lakh in shares while his wife had an investment of 3.04 lakh in the shares but in the year ending March 31, 2010, Raja's investments in shares increased to a little over Rs 23 lakh. His spouse's investment have also increase by Rs Six lakh, the property returns filed by the Minister show.
The details came through the reply to an RTI application filed by S C Agrawal seeking to know the latest asset details of the Ministers of the Union Cabinet .
Raja, who resigned following the controvesy surrounding alleged corruption in the allotment of telecom spectrum, invested in 19 companies including Public Sector Undertakings, airlines, software companies among others.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee who had declared assets worth Rs 6.7 Lakh last year has shown an increase of nearly 40 per cent with declared properties and cash touching little over Rs 10 lakh this year.
Defence Minister A K Antony's movable property showed a marginal dip this year. Antony had declared Rs 1.8 lakh in his two bank accounts but this year his account had a little over Rs 84,000 only.
One of the richest member of Union Council of Ministers , Minister of state for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia has also shown a marginal increase in his assets from Rs 22.7 crore in 2009 to Rs 24 crore this year, the reply showed.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's movable and immovable properties have shown a marginal increase from Rs one crore during fiscal ending 2009 to Rs 1.10 crore during 2010. Although his three out of four properties have not shown any increment in their value, his ancestoral property has shown an increase of about Rs 16,000.
Home Minister P Chidambaram's declaration also showed a similar trend with his assets growing marginally from Rs 10.3 crore to Rs 10.4 crore this year. The Minister also took advance of Rs 3.5 lakh, the RTI reply shows.
Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma's assets increased by nearly 29 per cent from Rs 2.6 crore in 2009 to 3.4 crore in fiscal ending March 31, 2010
Raja dragged PM's name into row, says Yechury
NEW DELHI: Sharpening its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G scam, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said it was not Singh's integrity but his infallibility that was being questioned.
Reiterating its demand for a JPC, CPM also cited a set of documents — letters between former telecom minister A Raja and the PM and the telecom ministry's affidavit in the Supreme Court — to drive home the point that it was Raja and the government who had dragged the PM's name into the 2G controversy. These documents are already in the public domain.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat asked the government to take action against corporate houses, Raja and guilty officials. He also criticised telecom minister Kapil Sibal for stating that 2G licences given to ineligible operators will not be cancelled. "UPA seems to be willing to condone the corporate world. Government is more concerned about scaring investment than the loss of Rs 1.78 lakh crore to the exchequer," he said.
Yechury said the telecom ministry's affidavit in Supreme Court clearly states "there is no difference of opinion with the PM, his office was also fully informed of all decisions". The affidavit also says that on "December 26, 2007, the minister of communications and information technology again wrote a letter to the PM informing that it is proposed to implement the decision without further delay and without any departure from existing guidelines".
Yechury said a JPC probe was the only way out. He said Public Accounts Committee by definition looked into accounts. "But corruption lies in the background of accounts. How conditions were created for such massive corruption. Only JPC can find that out as well as give policy recommendations for future," he said.
| Ready to discuss all issues in Parliament: PM on 2G scam Saturday, November 20, 2010 New Delhi: Breaking his silence over the 2G Spectrum allocation scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said his government was ready to discuss all issues, as he appealed to all political parties not to stall the Parliament over the issue. Responding to a question at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, Dr Singh sought to assure everyone by saying investigating agencies were looking into all aspects of the allegations made in respect to dubious allocation of 2G Spectrum by the Telecom Ministry under its former chief, A Raja. “I will appeal to all political parties to let the Parliament work… we need to let the Parliament function… we are ready to discuss all issues in Parliament. The government is not afraid of any issue,” the PM told the annual summit. “As far as the irregularities in 2G Spectrum allocation are concerned, I can say that various aspects of this are being looked into by respective investigating agencies. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that if any wrong thing has been done, he or she will be brought to book,” he added. Earlier, in his address at the summit, Dr Singh said India was going through testing times and that he often felt like a "high school student" going from one test to another. The PM’s remarks cam as a host of scams rocked his government, from the Commonwealth Games scam to Adarsh Society and 2G Spectrum allocation irregularities. "It is often said that these are testing times. In fact, I cannot help feeling that we in India are living always in testing times," the Prime Minister said. "Indeed as PM, I sometimes feel like a high school student going from one test to another," he added. Dr Singh also commented that India braved the worst global slowdown in decades better than most economies and would grow at 8.5 percent this fiscal and 9 to 10 percent next year. "We were among the few countries that recovered quickly from the after-effects of the global economic crisis," the PM said, adding that India, although affected, handled the crisis better than others. "Last year we grew at 7.4 percent, this year I am confident that the economy will grow at 8.5 percent, and next year, we hope to return the economy to a sustained growth of 9-10 percent," he added. courtesy |
