NEW DELHI: Outlook magazine has made 800 new Radia tapes public, further exposing the role played by the lobbyist in key decisions like accommodating DMK leaders in the Union cabinet at the beginning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second innings in office and how Kamal Nath got the surface transport ministry. Outlook claimed its reporters were still decoding the intercepts offering fresh insights into the working of Radia.
One of the conversations is between Radia and former head of CII Tarun Das in which the lobbyist talks of how Karunanidhi wanted only A Raja, a Dalit, to get the telecom portfolio despite the 2G controversy. In one of the transcripts, Tarun Das, former head of CII, terms Raja as very unpopular but Radia says: “That’s only with Sunil Mittal…it is better to have Raja in telecom. He will behave himself.”
Journalists played a key role, says Radia in one of the transcripts. “ Congress ne to statement Thank God issue kar diya. Barkha ne karwaa liyaa us se .” The person talking with her confirms her statement.
“ Haan woh to maine dekh liya. Aa gayaa naa Manish Tewari kaa ”. In conversation with colleague Manoj Warrier on June 1, 2009, Radia discusses a letter for Reliance Group’s Manoj Modi on a suitable communication plan that will be shown to Mukesh Ambani.
“You’re expecting us to take care of certain situations,” she asks Warrier to write, adding “I don’t want to go into this whole thing about journalism…gatekeepers”.