A tale of two Rajas

While Union Telecom Minister A Raja continues in his post despite the allegations levelled against him in the spectrum scam, another Raja is on the run in Tamil Nadu. N K K P Raja, the Handloom and Textile Minister in the state until recently, was removed from his post by the DMK leadership . His fall from grace came after a person approached the Madras High Court alleging Raja had abducted his family members to arm-twist them into selling a 10-acre property. Sensing trouble, the DMK leadership promptly sacked the first-time minister a year ago though he was allowed to retain his position as the Erode district secretary of the party. Even as the Crime Branch-CID was investigating the case, another row broke out a little over a week ago when Raja and his wife Uma Maheshwari got themselves admitted to a private hospital claiming that one Sivabalan and his gang attacked them. Sivabalan was among those who were allegedly abducted by Raja. The local police later received information about Sivabalan being held illegally and found the youth tied to a pole and beaten severely at Raja’s farm house. The DMK expelled him from primary membership and made his father, local strongman N K K Periyasamy, the district secretary. With the CB-CID on the lookout for him, Raja is now on the run.

‘Star’ land deal

Popular Tamil actor Vijay, who created a flutter by indicating his willingness to join the Congress party, was allegedly a beneficiary in a government land deal, raising questions on acquisition and subsequent utilisation of land by the government.

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