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Tuesday, Jun 08, 2004

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National

NDA to make most out of `tainted Ministers' issue

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI, JUNE 7. The National Democratic Alliance has decided to strike an aggressive posture on the inclusion of "chargesheeted persons" in the Union Council of Ministers but will finalise its strategy on how to raise the issue in Parliament tomorrow.

Claiming unanimity within the NDA on the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, V.K. Malhotra, said: "Whether we should walk out, boycott or force an adjournment is a decision that will be taken at the NDA party leaders meeting before Parliament resumes its sitting tomorrow." The issue of "tainted Ministers" dominated the meeting of NDA MPs here this evening and apparently the mood was not in favour of allowing the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President's Address.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal president, Laloo Prasad Yadav, said he would fight out the campaign against him and some of his party leaders. According to him, the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had on December 13, 2000, told the Lok Sabha that "neither the Constitution nor the law disqualifies a Minister from holding office merely because a chargesheet is filed by the police or formal charges are framed by the court" in response to a motion asking him to drop three Cabinet Ministers involved in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The BJP Parliamentary Party spokesperson, Sushma Swaraj, said: "We are not alone in raising this issue; the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has expressed its views on the subject."

Demanding the resignation of the "tainted Ministers," she wondered how the Government would "rid the country of the scourge of corruption" — as articulated by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in his Address to Parliament today — with "corrupt Ministers."

As for the United Progressive Alliance counter that it was the BJP-led NDA Government which set a precedent by having Ministers with criminal cases against them — L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti — in its Cabinet, she said: "Those were not cases of moral turpitude." While the BJP maintained it was only taking a cue from the Congress, which had made an issue of "tainted Ministers" in the NDA Cabinet, the Congress accused it of violating the "time-honoured" parliamentary convention by disturbing the Prime Minister during the introduction of the Council of Ministers in the Rajya Sabha.

Echoing the RJD justification, the Congress questioned the NDA's "doublespeak." On whether the Congress was also not guilty of the same since it had demanded the removal of chargesheeted Ministers from the NDA Government, the party spokesman, Anand Sharma, made a distinction saying that it was leading a coalition Government and representatives of various parties who were present in the Council of Ministers were elected by the people.

When it was pointed out that the same could be said of the NDA, he said it was different since the candidates this time had to file detailed affidavits disclosing antecedents as per Supreme Court directions. Only those candidates whose nominations were in conformity with the new law could contest. This apart, the former MP, Wasim Ahmed, questioned Mr. Advani making an issue of "chargesheeted Ministers" when he himself had decided to continue as Home Minister after being an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. "Had you set a precedent by resigning from the Home Minister's post, no subsequent Government would have had the courage to induct chargesheeted Ministers," Mr. Ahmed said in an open letter to Mr. Advani.

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