NEW DELHI, June 9: Embarrassed by the ticking off given by Communications Minister Sushma Swaraj the last time they met on May 27, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today asked its entire executive council, headed by Dr B K Modi of ModiCorp, to step down. Fresh elections are to be held within eight weeks time, after which a fresh initiative will be launched to press for their demands with the Ministry of Telecommunications.Today's meeting, spread over two locations and eight hours, was a tense affair, with one section of cellular operators asking for the entire executive council to resign. Modi's supporters - generally the cellular companies whose owners accompanied him when he met Swaraj the first time - however, opposed the move to single them out for the mishandling of the meeting. They insisted that instead of asking the entire council to resign, attempts should be made to find out who spread the rumours that they had made a deal with Swaraj. Earlier, a livid Swaraj had accused theoperators of fuelling rumours that a deal was struck with her to concede their demands such as extending their licence validity.In the event, she had stated that she did not wish to meet the cellular operators again, and asked them to deal only through the secretary of the Telecom Commission.With no clear consensus on whether the entire executive council should resign being debated for over two hours, the group then decamped from the COAI's Hailey Road office to the Intercontinental Hotel in the Capital, where the larger general body of around 30 members were present.There, the debate continued for several hours more and finally the group was then asked "whether the general body reaffirms its faith in the elected members," in other words, should any one individual or group be held responsible for the fiasco. Around 60 per cent of those present were in favour of the entire body stepping down. The COAI general body meeting then adjourned for lunch.With the writing on the wall quite clear, after thelunch, a resolution was passed stating that the entire executive council would resign and fresh elections would be held within eight weeks. Interestingly, the COAI also decided that, in future, no industrialist will meet any official or Minister individually - instead, all meetings would be organised through the COAI.In the words of the general body, attempts would be made to "further enhance transparency and operational effectiveness of the COAI".
