DMK to back Raja's request if issue comes up in UPA meeting

DMK will back former Telecom Minister A Raja if the issue of his request to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee as a witness on the 2G case is raised at the UPA Coordination Committee meeting here on Tuesday.
"If the Congress raises the issue..., asks us, we have to stand by Raja," party spokesman T K Elangovan, MP, told PTI when asked whether the issue could be raised by the DMK, a key constituent of the UPA, at the Coordination Committee meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Besides, Elangovan said Raja's request to appear before the JPC was a "new development" and "our leader may advise us" about future course of action.

The DMK spokesman said his party would raise the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils and farmers suicides in Tamil Nadu at the UPA Coordination Committee meeting.
A DMK member of Lok Sabha, Raja is a prime accused in the 2G spectrum case who had been in Tihar jail for several months before being granted bail.
He had met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar some days back and handed her a letter expressing his willingness to appear as a witness before the JPC.

Raja has contended that while he has the "fullest respect" for the court, "the fact remains that I have been condemned unheard." He has sent a copy of the letter to Congress leader P C Chacko, who heads the JPC.

Raja's request to Kumar comes days after Attorney General G E Vahanvati blamed him for various issues before the JPC.
"The truth of the matter is being suppressed on the basis of preconceived notions, deliberate bias, faulty investigation and erroneous conclusions.
"...Perhaps the most telling example of this situation is the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 02.02.2012, where specific and prejudicial observations were made against me without giving me a hearing," Raja wrote in the letter.