'If Raja wants to join debate, will consider'

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Tuesday said she will consider if former communications minister A. Raja, now lodged in Delhi's high-security Tihar Jail, applies to participate in debate on 2G scam in the house.

"Let the request come ... then we will consider it," Kumar told reporters outside Parliament House.

Raja was sent to 14 days' judicial custody by a Delhi court Feb 17.

He was arrested Feb 2 for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal, which caused huge losses to the national exchequer, and was remanded in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody initially for five days.

Prime Minister Manmohan singh Tuesday announced the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe 2G scam.