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Congress demands full facts as conflicting reports mark FM advisor Guruswamy's exit

Conflicting reports on the nature of exit of Mohan Guruswamy, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's adviser, added to the tension that has gripped the Bharatiya Janata Party ever since the resignation of Madan Lal Khurana as Union minister for tourism and parliamentary affairs.

On Wednesday night, an official release from Sinha's office said Guruswamy has been "sacked" as adviser for ''acting beyond his brief''.

Sinha took the decision as Guruswamy ''was acting beyond his brief and tried to meddle with the matters not authorised by the finance minister''.

''His approach in dealing with financial institutions was neither authorised nor in tune with the normal duties and procedures,'' it said.

However, media reports said Guruswamy "resigned" from the twin-jobs of "Officer on Special Duty in the finance ministry" and "adviser to finance minister".

The Congress today demanded the government to place all the facts behind the "resignation" of Guruswamy.

Party spokesman Ajit Jogi said Guruswamy, a key functionary of the government, said that he had tendered his resignation on January 27 while the government claimed that he was sacked.

Jogi said Guruswamy had assailed some government policies and programmes besides certain projects in his resignation letter.

The Congress viewed this as a ''serious matter'' and therefore wanted the government to come out with all details regarding the polices, programmes and projects mentioned in the letter.

Replying to a question whether the resignation had anything to do with the ''leakage'' of the Budget proposals, Jogi said Congress was seeking all this information in public interest.

Another party spokesperson Girija Vyas alleged that the announcement of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Finance Minister that the Budget would be a tough one, had resulted in disappearance of essential commodities from the markets.

Sugar, rice and wheat and other essential commodities started disappearing from the market as hoarders and black marketeers had taken the ''hint'' from the statements, she said.

Meanwhile, Guruswamy's strongly worded resignation letter failed to provoke Sinha to join issue. Guruswamy is reported to have launched a blistering offensive on the ruling BJP-led coalition for its failure to govern properly. He was severe on the government's inept handling of the onion crisis and the controversy about the attacks on Christians. He also mentioned several MNCs which he said had received velvet glove treatment from the government. He was also unhappy at the government's inability to nominate directors to financial institutions.

"Our responses have been slow, feeble and often much too late in coming to be of any consequence. This has made our government to appear as not being very different from all the previous ones and this is my great disappointment," he noted in the letter.

"We are no longer able to advance our agenda as stated in the election manifesto. We seem to have allowed the system and process to overwhelm our concerns," Guruswamy said.

He termed the current political situation as "fratricidal, adversarial and vicious. I see no purpose in continuing in this manner and am convinced that I must relinquish my position. Please treat this as my resignation,'' he concluded.

Additional reportage: UNI

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