Infocomm shares issue: Mahajan denies charges
Friday, April 1 2005 21:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time - 
Mumbai:
Stating that he had never held any shares of any corporate, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Pramod Mahajan today (April 1, 2005) denied he had extended undue favours to the Reliance Infocomm as Union Communications Minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government.
Mahajan, while talking to reporters in Mumbai, said that neither he, his wife, son or daughter owned "any shares of any company in the world."
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"I have been to the Bombay Stock Exchange only twice. Once to hear US President Bill Clinton and the next time, to deliver a speech", the senior leader said.
The BJP leader also denied charges that he had extended undue favours to Reliance in his capacity as the then Union Communications Minister.
Former Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam had levelled charges regarding Mahajan's involvement in issuance of Reliance Infocomm shares.
Discuss this topic
Rubbishing Nirupam's allegations against him, Mahajan said, "Till now, I don't know what exactly are the charges levelled against me."
"Earlier, people accused me of taking Reliance funds to run the party. Now, you say I am funding that company. Please make up your mind," he said.
Pointing out that he was accused of making efforts to rope in as many as five million subscribers for Reliance Infocomm, Mahajan said, "When I left charge as
Communications Minister, the company did not have even a single subscriber.
Now, to say that I netted them subscribers is ludicrous".
"Did I go around carrying their SIM cards?" he asked.
"There are 850 MPs and not all are my friends. Yet, no one else has raised the issue", he said about raising of the issue by Nirupam in Rajya Sabha.
Whether he was rattled by Nirupam's charges and newspaper reports on Reliance Infocomm share issue, Mahajan said, "When an aircraft is going at full speed, even a small bird hit causes damage".
About his role in the fight between Ambani brothers, he said, "This is the right question asked to the wrong person".
When asked to comment on Nirupam leaving Shiv Sena, Mahajan said, "Nirupam is not on my radar. He does not matter".
Asked whether he would sue the newspaper, which published series of news item alleging his role in the Infocomm shares issue, the senior leader said, "The libel laws in this country are lax and so there is no point pursuing the matter".
"If I decide to sue anybody for writing something against me, then I would have to sue every one of you", he said.
Mahajan said that he had been in politics for over 25 years. "Till date, thanks to god's grace my reputation is intact".
PTI
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