Former telecom minister A Raja today defended himself against corruption charges in the 2G scam, saying he had not done anything wrong and was merely following the policies pursued by his predecessors and the NDA government.
The 47-year-old DMK MP pleaded before Special CBI Judge OP Saini that there was nothing wrong in his decision of not auctioning 2G spectrum as he had "implemented only what I have inherited."
Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, said if Raja is being prosecuted for following a certain policy then all telecom ministers since 1993 are liable to be prosecuted as they too followed the same policy.
"If policy pursued by me was wrong, then all former telecom ministers since 1993 should also be in jail with me (Raja)," the counsel said while opposing framing of charges against Raja.
He said, "As telecom minster Arun Shourie distributed 26 licences while Dayanidhi Maran distributed 25 and I (Raja) distributed 122 licences. Numbers make no difference, however, it is to be noted that none of them auctioned the spectrum.
"If they had done no wrong, why am I being questioned? Let them deny that they have not done what I did. I was just following the 2003 Cabinet decision that is not to auction 2G spectrum. If I am following the law, I am not liable to be prosecuted. Infact, I should be rewarded," Raja said.
