Did not share chemistry with Dayanidhi Maran: Tata

Ratan Tata admitted that he did not share good "chemistry" with Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran but said he did not influence the selection of ministers at the time formation of the second UPA government in 2009.

New Delhi: Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata on Monday admitted that he did not share good "chemistry" with
Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran but said he did not influence
the selection of ministers at the time formation of the second
UPA government in 2009.

Against the backdrop of the leakage of the tapped
telephone conversations of his and corporate lobbyist Niira
Radia with various personalities, he appeared before the
Parliament`s Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) to answer questions in connection with its
probe into the 2G scam.
In reply to a question by members, Tata said he did
not share good "chemistry" with Maran.

He was asked about his letter to Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister and DMK supremo K Karunanidhi in which he reportedly
appreciated the then Telecom Minister A Raja.

He was also asked as to why did he not write to the
Prime Minister a Union Minister and instead chose to address
the letter to a state Chief Minister.

To a question on how the letter came into public
domain, he merely said Sunil Mittal (of Bharti Telecom) was
the first one to refer to the letter. But he did not blame
anyone for the "leak", sources said. He maintained he would
not have benefited from the leak.
When Radia was asked by the PAC about the letter, she
said she was not aware of the contents as it was placed in a
sealed envelope. She had only handed over the letter by Tata
to Karunanidhi.

The Committee members also sought to know from the
Tata Sons Chairman as to why he wrote the letter when there
was so much controversy surrounding Raja`s decisions as
Telecom Minister in 2007.

He said there was no controversy. But members pointed
that the letter was written after the cut-off date for
submission of bids for 2G spectrum allocation was advanced and
there were hectic communications between the Telecom Ministry,
the PMO, the Finance Ministry and the Cabinet Secretariat.

Raja`s predecessor, Dayanidhi Maran and Tata had
clashed five years ago over Sun TV group ? owned by Maran`s
brother Kalanidhi Maran- showing interest in acquiring equity
stakes in direct-to-home (DTH) venture of Tatas--Tata Sky.

PTI

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.