Raja outside Parliament on Wednesday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, May 16: Prison yesterday, Parliament today, so what if it’s not the same front-row seat for A. Raja.

The former telecom minister was in Parliament today for 15 minutes, smiling and accepting congratulatory greetings from other members.

“I could not resist coming to Parliament today as I got the opportunity after so many months. I am a politician and this is the place where I belong,” said Raja, who is the prime accused in the spectrum case and was sent to Tihar jail on February 2, 2011.

“But I had to sit in the middle row because my seat was occupied by somebody else as I am not a minister now. Initially, it felt a bit awkward but there is nothing to complain,” he said.

Raja was granted bail by the 2G court yesterday on grounds of parity — the other 13 accused in the case have been released from Tihar jail.

How does it feel to come out of the solitary confinement, he was asked.

“I feel great. Personal liberty and freedom is priceless and this is what I have realised after coming out of jail. It’s a different world inside a prison and it’s very lonely,” Raja said.

“I went for my morning walk and had my one-hour yoga before having breakfast. Unlike prison, there is no restriction at home. Even the morning cup of tea tastes different,” he laughed.

After shaking hands with MPs in the Lok Sabha, Raja sat in the lawn of his official bungalow on Motilal Nehru Marg, barely 2km from Parliament, taking congratulatory phone calls for the rest of the day.

He also had a waiting audience. Some 20 DMK workers at Raja’s bungalow laughed as he recounted his hours in Tihar.

He told them how he frequently outplayed jail officials in badminton, his evening recreation after court attendance in the morning.

Raja’s daughter Mayuri, whom he missed the most when he was in jail, was on a swing in one corner of the lawn. “I missed my daughter a lot,” Raja said. “She is extremely happy now.”

The DMK MP, by the way, shares his birthday with his daughter, a Class VII student in a prominent school in Delhi.

Raja said he got calls from over 2,000 people, mainly DMK leaders and supporters from Chennai. “Some MPS in Delhi from other parties also called me. But I have not got any call from any minister from the UPA II (government) and I do not even expect them to call up. But I got calls from some CPM leaders and some from the AIADMK from Chennai. I cannot disclose their names as their party high command may haul them up,” Raja said.

The DMK MP also made calls to Tihar officials today to thank them for their help. “They were very nice to me. I called up the jail superintendent today to tell him that several books and documents related to my case are kept in my cell as I could not bring these with me. I told him I would send my aides to bring them back to my house,” he said.

He said his priority now was to be “totally focused on this case”. “This is my first and foremost first priority right now. I have the full support of my party and leaders and I am confident that I would be able to fight it out,” Raja said.

He said the CBI “does not have a strong case against me and cannot prove it (the charges) during the trial”. “I know they are very upset about my release as they had opposed my bail. They were confident that the court would dismiss my plea,” he said, smiling.