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PM hints at early action in Bofors case

Action in the one-and-a-half decade old Bofors case is likely soon, considering Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks at a press conference in Lucknow on Sunday evening.

Vajpayee said, "The probe is at an advanced stage and I am sure it will put Congress in the dock." He was replying to a pointed query if the growing tendency among the ruling National Democratic Alliance leaders to highlight corruption during the Congress regime was not directed towards overshadowing the recent 'tehelka' expose.

Even the mammoth NDA rally earlier in the afternoon was largely focussed on retaliatory attacks on the Congress, which was squarely accused of masterminding the 'tehelka' expose. Vajpayee, with other prominent NDA leaders, addressed the rally .

The rally was planned following continued disruption of the proceedings of Parliament by the opposition.

Asked what measures he was taking to prevent the opposition from further paralysing the proceedings, when the Parliament meets again Monday, Vajpayee said, "Well, only two days back, I had spoken to the leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi over the telephone from Iran on this issue; I will speak to her again on Monday in New Delhi and urge her to maintain the true spirit of an opposition leader and let the issue be debated in the house."

Earlier, while addressing the rally, he asked, "I fail to understand why the Congress was neither interested in discussing the issue threadbare in Parliament, nor did it approve of the judicial probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into the 'tehelka' affair ." He went on to add, "It seems the opposition has decided to write off both the Indian Parliament as well as the judiciary."

When a scribe sought to point out that the probe into 'tehelka' seemed to be directed more towards finding out those who were behind the exposure by the website, rather than the "shady" deals that were allegedly taking place in the all important defence purchases , the prime minister said, "That is not true; the inquiry is aimed at bringing the guilty to book."

In fact , former defence minister George Fernandes, who was compelled to resign following the 'tehelka' expose, pointedly blamed the NRI industrial house of Hindujas for being behind the whole affair. "I am aware that the Hindujas are behind the 'tehelka' conspiracy that was directed only towards toppling the NDA government," Fernandes told the rally.

Fernandes had flown in with the prime minister to address the rally in his capacity as chief of the Samata Party, a major NDA constituent.

The former defence minister as also other key speakers including Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare Uma Bharti, Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, as well as UP Chief Minister Raj Nath Singh, systematically trained their guns at the Congress in general and Sonia in particular.

Joshi even went to the extent of echoing the old BJP bogey of the "foreign lineage" against Sonia Gandhi .

While admitting that corruption had become a "national malady that needs to be treated urgently", Vajpayee claimed, "What the present government had done to curb corruption is unparalleled. While previous governments were still debating whether to bring the Prime Minister's Office under the purview of the Lokpal, I personally gave the proposal a green signal."

However on being asked if some action would be initiated against the rampant corruption among ministers and bureaucrats in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "Well this is a serious matter and needs to be taken up."

Numerically speaking, the rally was a great success, but the fact remained that the estimated 200,000 crowd constituted largely of people carted in government owned, or private-run buses from different corners of the state.

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