Sunday, November 28, 2010

Shankar Aiyar (then with India Today Group) and Radia tapes

Shankar Aiyar--20090522-110908


Radia to Shankar Aiyar— Hi Shankar(husky voice)
Aiyar to Radia— Are you in some serious meeting or what?
Radia to Shankar—No, no,no, I saw you on air(Headlines Today), and one thing I have to tell you, Congress has not talked about Balu or Raja or anything like that,right?
Shankar to Radia— That’s what I told them last night, I don’t know whether u watched, on air, I said I am little mystified as to how everybody seems to know what the Prime Minister has said, except, the two ministers and the DMK itself—
Radia to Shankar—- and Karunanidhi!
Shankar to Radia—-Yeah, I said, if the Prime Minister has said so, the congress party should come out and say that we don’t have, express it that we don’t have any problem with these two ministers, if so, come out and say it. If you don’t say, what are you admitting that we lived with these two corrupt ministers for five years and we couldn’t do anything about it.So, maine bola yeh sab faltugiri hai(its all nonsense). Tumhare(congress) apne ministers kitne efficient the, you have lived with a disaster like Shivraj Patil for five years—
Radia to Shankar— Sushilkumar Shinde—-
Shankar to Radia— Haan,
Radia to Shankar— you know what they have done is, they have only given a hint, again only through (Dayanidhi) Maran, they are talking to the wrong people, see whats happened is, all this messages coming out that they accept Maran and they don’t want the other two. The other thing is that Azhagiri is a mass leader and basically, there is Balu, Raja and Maran, that’s how it got settled. Azhagiri MOS independent, and Kani(Kanimozhi), Independent.
Shankar to Radia— Correct
Radia to Shankar—-So the view was, and Azhagiri’s followers and DMK leaders in Tamil Nadu said that, you know, he is such a senior leader, how can you give him MOS, you take Maran out of that, or you drop Balu, because Raja , they cant because he is a dalit.Which is where that, that Selvi starting intervening and started saying that I will commit suicide and I will do this, and so the old man(M.Karunanidhi, DMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister) is under so much pressure. See Congress told Maran, that we don’t want to give any infrastructure portfolio to either you or Balu, which he has not relayed to Karunanidhi. Problem kya hai, sab darte hai, Karunanidhi ko kaun jaake bolega.Congress is not talking directly to Karunanidhi. You(congress) have to talk to him.
Shankar to Radia—see, see the difficulty is, I have met Karunanidhi several times and despite my knowledge of tamil, several times you know, I cant understand what he says.
Radia to Shankar—ok, yes, therefore he can ask Kani, who is a neutral person
Shankar to Radia— —– I agree with you that they should talk directly to him. Kal maine us ladke, Vishal(???) ko phone karke bataya, who bola ki chintu(??) ro raha hai, sab log kyun Daya(Dayanidhi Maran) ko maante hai, maine bola ki kyunki tu frame mein nahin hai, woh bola yeh toh issue hai, toh maine bola ki dek woh, official negotiator kaun hai, declare kar do tum, sab clear ho jayega aur ensure that people know that Maran is not the official negotiator. Lekin then I found out that this English speaking party(Congress), only talks through English speaking people. Aur anyway Daya(Maran) aur Rahul(Gandhi) ka kuch business interest hai, toh this is going to be an issue.
Radia to Shankar— Whats the issue??
Shankar to Radia— Maloom nahin, software, software, kuch business interest hai dono ka. Jab yeh mantri tah(Dayanidhi Maran was Telecom Minister between 2004 and 2007) na , tab unke muh se kuch galti se nikal gaya(when he Dayanidhi was a minister by mistake it came out of his mouth)
Radia to Shankar— But it was Rahul who said he doesn’t want Dayanidhi there.
Shankar to Radia—- who? Rahul said that?
Radia to Shankar—(with emphasis) yeah.
Shankar to Radia— then toot gaya hoga, pata nahin( then it(relationship) must have broken up). Mere ko yeh, matlab, I am talking of 2006.
Radia to Shankar— No, no,I think it has changed. I know that, no no, I agree with you, the problem is that they have not said who the official negotiator is. That’s what Karunanidhi needs to do. He cant send five of them to negotiate na?
Shankar to Radia— he should tell— this is the best time to make Azhagiri and Kanimozhi the official DMK face in delhi. Bhai in dono mein, bhai tum negotiate karo bhai, who better than them?
Radia to Shankar— That’s right. But now Karunanidhi doesn’t know what’s happening, he doesn’t even know congress doesn’t want to give infrastructure portfolio to Balu or Maran, that’s why—- whatever he is seeing is he is seeing on TV. And on his(Dayanidhi Maran’s) own Sun network, he is carrying whatever he wants, that’s how silly it is. Can you imagine, tum batado apne Congresswalon ko,
Shankar to Radia— ummmm–I will—- meeting abhi chal raha hai




Shankar Aiyar-20090522-184449






Shankar to Radia— Hello
Radia to Shankar— Hii, now Times Now  is running a very nice ticker
Shankar to Radia— yes, but why they are running it?
Radia to Shankar— I told her, I said, I know you should have a sense of humour, but I don’t know you are running a comedy channel
Shankar to Radia— OK Ok
Radia to Shankar—who toh ke rahi hai ki(she is telling), I got it confirmed from confirmed sources from Congress.
Shankar to Radia— Congress ka toh lena dena nahin hai, portfolio ke bare mein(Congress has nothing to do with portfolios).
Radia to Shankar—- I told her that, kuch bhi lage hue hai, kuch bhi, inko koi gyan nahin, pata nahin hai, kaun karva raha hai, wohin hai(presumably Maran), aur kaun ho sakta hai na? I haven’t seen him (Maran) at the swearing in.
Shankar to Radia—- Kaun—?
Radia to Shankar— Wahin, Maran, haan haan.
Shankar to Radia—- Haan, Boss(presumably A.Raja as it become clear later) ko toh dekha tah(in the swearing in ceremony, incidentally only Raja attended the ceremony on behalf of DMK as the DMK was still decided about joining ministry and who should join), par I didn’t see him(Maran).
Radia to Shankar— Accha, what did Boss tell you, when you spoke to him.
Shankar to Radia— No, he said ok fine—
Radia to Shankar— no, what did he tell you finally?
Shankar to Radia—- no, no, he said basically ki, asal mein dekho, his boss, the leader(Karunanidhi) also wants him to go to telecom because of all this whole controversy(spectrum scam which was already out in the open), it is back firing, basically on Maran. Leader(Karunanidhi) he says ki, he is willing, ki now if he(Raja) doesn’t become Telecom Minister it wil look ki PM didn’t want him. But Prime Minister has officially communicated ki, with Raja in Telecom is ok with me. So there is no issue, that is the only thing. Usme toh koi issue hai hi nahin. Jayenge, kal meeting karenge, dekhenge kya hoga—
Radia to Shankar— When he is going to Tamil Nadu?
Shankar to Radia— who raat ko 8.40 p.m flight.
Radia to Shankar—- and—whats the time the meeting tomorrow?
Shankar to Radia—- That I don’t know uska mujhe kuch nahin pata.
Radia to Shankar—Accha, dekho, Amma(Kanimozhi’s mother and Karunanidhi’s third “wife”, Rajathiammal) ja rahi abhi, Karunanidhi ke ghar pe, ghar pe pahunch rahi hai.
Shankar to Radia— Acha acha—
Radia to Shankar— I will find out. Ok.


Radia to Shankar— Hii, Shankar
Shankar to Radia— Whats happening? NO deal no?
Radia to Shankar—Nahin, no deal, whats happening you know, this both Pallavi Ghosh(of NDTV) and Navika Kumar(of Timesnow), are a bit mad. You should take it off air, because the deal hasn’t happened.
Shankar to Radia—– Nahin, nahin, maine is Headlines Today(part of India Toda group) usko bola ki kuch bhi run karne se pehle mujhko pooch(I told this Headlines Today people, that before running anything(story) you ask me).
Radia to Shankar— nahin, nahin, yeh run kare rahe hai. Breaking news—
Shankar to Radia— Headlines bhi kar rahe hain?( Headlines Today is also doing it?)
Radia to Shankar— haan haan kar rahe hain, dono bhi kar rahe hai, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today(both belong to India Today group) are doing it, and the thing is that the meeting hasn’t taken place today. They are waiting for Raja to come back tonight and Kani is also coming back tonight(to Chennai). She left at 5 p.m, and Raja is leaving now, after the swearing in. He was nominated to just attend the swearing in( Shankar—ummm), kuch, kal saade gyraha baje meeting hoga(tomorrow 11.30 a.m will be the meeting) and then they will decide. Its very clear and Prime Minister has just reached out to DMK( Shankar—ummm), and they(DMK) said that they(Congress) have made a reasonable offer and we wil resolve in a few days. Obviously PM hasn’t done, you know, I know Kani just landed in Chennai, and I know still nothing has happened.(Shankar—-ummm), yeh lage hue hai unnecessarily, I don’t who is behind.
Shankar to Radia—- Theek hai, main phono chalata hoon(I will run a phone in on Headlines Today).
Radia to Shankar— ek aur baat hai, haan kar lo, ek aur baat hai, listen Sunil(Mittal of Airtel) and all are very active to get Maran there(Telecom Ministry).
Shankar to Radia—- dekho main pehle se bol raha tah ki( see I have been telling from the beginning, that) , tum Kani se bataya ki nahin ki yeh (Maran) badmaash hai, yeh misrepresentation karta rahta hai.
Radia to Shankar— Haan bol diya, aaj , aaj CM(Karunanidhi) ko bhi pata lag gaya. (Shankar— haan), See he(Maran) went and told Chief Minister that Ahmed Patel(Key aide of Congress President Sonia Gandhi) has asked me to stay back(for swearing in ceremony of the new cabinet of UPA II), so Chief Minister told him(Maran), then you join Congress(ha ha). He told him, see, you cannot attend the swearing in, only Raja can attend. (Shankar—ummm), so he(Maran) couldn’t handle that. Usne kal bhi confuse kar diya, nahin kal hi deal ho jaata(he confused them yesterday also, otherwise the deal would have been finalise yesterday only). Usne bola ki last time we did it in 2004, you should try for it now again.
Shankar to Radia—- Nahin, who unki taraf se batting kar raha isliye itna lafda ho raha hai( He is batting on their behalf that’s why so much confusion).
Radia to Shankar—- kinki taraf se?
Shankar to Radia—- Congress ki taraf se(ha ha ha).
Radia to Shankar—-(serious tone) he is doing for Sunil Mittal (Airtel Chief), na, he is doing that. Let me tell you when Karunanidhi was here, I was with him in Tamil Nadu house, he was very clear and you must know this (Shankar—ummm), he was saying that there was so much controversy on Raja, he was telling of course to Kani and she was translating, because there is so much controversy on Raja, I cannot let anybody believe that it was wrong. Therefore Raja will come back as Telecom Minister. (Shankar—ummmm), and he told that to Prime Minister also.
Shankar to Radia— Main toh, unko aane de wapas



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