Centre to probe Ananth Kumar's links with Radia

CHENNAI/BANGALORE: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanasamy on Monday said the Central Government will inquire into the allegation that cabinet secrets were leaked by Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Ananth Kumar to corporate lobbyist Niira Radia during the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance rule. "If theallegation is true, then it would amount to being an anti-national act and theCentre would take action on it," Narayanasamy told reporters here.Radia's former partner Rao Dheeraj Singh on Thursday alleged thatwhen Ananth Kumar was the Union Civil Aviation Minister and later Union UrbanDevelopment Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, he helped her byallotting land to a trust run by her. Rao Dheeraj Singh also saidthat Kumar had helped Radia by offering her access to confidential files of thecabinet. Further talking about the deadlock in the Parliament overthe 2G scam issue, Narayanasamy said Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has convenedan all-party meeting on December 30, 2010, to find a solution to it."The government was ready for a debate on the spectrum issue in theParliament, but the Opposition parties including the BJP were not interested togo into the truth of the case," said Narayanasamy. Meanwhile, theKarnataka Congress has sought the resignation of Ananth Kumar from Lok Sabha"till he cleared his name of his alleged links with corporate lobbyist NiiraRadia". Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman G CChandrashekhar said though there were report of his alleged links with Radiawhen he was Civil Aviation Minister, Ananth Kumar is not giving an explanationopenly. "As one who is from Karnataka and an MP from Bangalore, it'simportant that he gives information to the people of the State", he said.Chandrashekhar alleged that when Ananth Kumar was the Union CivilAviation Minister, Radia got a nod from the Foreign Investment Promotion Boardto start an airline with a share capital of Rs one lakh, while the norm at thetime was that it should be Rs 30 crore. "For her success in gettingthis nod, was there a hand of Ananth Kumar? Why is he not giving an openexplanation to the people?", he asked.