Feb. 15: Indian space scientists have left it to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to take a “political call” on dumping the contract for allotment of high-value and scarce airwaves to Devas Multimedia Ltd, but have also provided him “potent” particulars which could well send relations between the Congress and the DMK into a tailspin.
The Isro top brass has briefed Dr Singh on the dubious role of a senior bureaucrat and a relative of the first family of Tamil Nadu in sparking a controversy over the Isro/Antrix-Devas contract and thus whipping up smear campaign against the PM himself as he holds the portfolio of space. It was his role that provoked the Opposition to demand the resignation of Dr Singh and in the process divert public attention away from the scam in allotment of 2G spectrum and the Raja episode.
Some of the classified documents which he had access to have made their way into the hands of politicians, leaving top technocrats in a fix on how to deal with the situation.
Sources in Isro said the officer, who served it for about 18 months, nursed a grudge against the PMO and top technocrats for shifting him out of the space agency in the wake of complaints of corruption.