New Delhi: The fresh set of 800 tapes of Nira Radia's conversations, exposed by newsmagazine Outlook on Sunday, allow us a greater and much deeper peek into another 'spectrum' - of large corporates, senior politicians, leading businessmen, and veteran journalists. One can only anticipate what might be the corpus of her contacts once all the 5000-plus Radia tapes are brought to public knowledge.
However, the Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing Ratan Tata's petition on Radia tapes, directed that the image of individuals should not be tarnished till the hearing in the privacy suit is completed.
It is uncertain if the remaining Radia tapes will ever be brought into the public domain after the SC statement.
Nevertheless, the new tapes of the corporate lobbyist's conversations, released three weeks after the first set of 140 tapes triggered an unprecedented political and corporate war in India, are incriminating enough. A glance at select conversations posted on the Outlook website reveals the immense clout and influence Radia enjoyed over both the corporate as well as political India.
Radia is privy to intimate details of the wrangling within the DMK right before the UPA II Cabinet was formed in 2009. She not only has a minute-by-minute account of what transpired at M Karunanidhi's house during the tussle for Cabinet posts between the Congress and DMK, she is also an active participant in discussions over portfolios between Dayanidhi Maran, Azhagiri, Kanimozhi, T R Baalu and of course A Raja.
In a brief conversation with disgraced former telecom minister A Raja, Radia asks, "This phone is OK, na?" The question shows Radia knew that her phones were being tapped.
Among other senior politicians implicated in the new set of tapes are N K Singh, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Janata Dal (United) ideologue, and Union Minister Kamal Nath.
Ranjan Bhattacharya, Atal Behari Vajpayee's foster son-in-law, also appears in a conversation with Radia where they are talking about Unitech.
The tapes again name journalists Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi who are already in the dock over the first set of tapes. In one of the tapes, Radia apparently tells Mr R K Chandolia, A Raja's key aide, "Congress ne to statement Thank God issue kar diya. Barkha ne karwaa liyaa us se." This might be the reference to the work that Barkha has publicly denied.
In her conversation with Sanghvi, Radia thanks him for writing the controversial Counterpoint column in Hindustan Times. “Very nice, lovely, thank you, Vir," she says. In another chat, Radia is heard directing her staff to "prepare a set of questions" for Sanghvi to ask during his interviews with Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani.
In another talk with her employees, we get a sense of the control Radia enjoys over NewsX, the news channel.
Among the corporates named in the new set of tapes are Airtel (promoted by Sunil Bharti Mittal), Unitech, and of course Tata Group and Reliance Industries. The last two are represented by Radia's PR firm, Vaishnavi Communications.
In one of her conversations with Ratan Tata's staff, Radia is heard mulling over arranging a meeting between Mittal and Tata, apparently over the 2G spectrum allocation.
The tapes are indicative of the kind of power and control Nira Radia had over a vast section of politicians, corporates, journalists and even the government. As more and more tapes are revealed, the skeletons tumbling out of the Radia cupboard are bound to provide more fodder to the infamous story of one of the biggest scandals to hit the country.
In one of the more interesting conversations, we also see Radia the astrologer. While talking to the former head of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Tarun Das, we find out that she has looked at Das' son's planetary charts and assures the worried father that his son will do good for at least the next 16 years.
If only Radia had seen her own planetary charts!
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