NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Angry Samata party members on Friday asserted that they would soon be writing to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking him to probe allegations of corruption against his foster son in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya and his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra following the defence deals scam.
"Yes, we are going to write a letter to the prime minister since grave allegations have been made that Bhattacharya and Mishra are involved in the scam," pointed out senior party leader Prabhunath Singh.
"If fingers are being pointed at the Prime Minister's Office and allegations of corruption have been made against Bhattacharya and Mishra, our party would like to know what is the truth. That's why we want Vajpayeeji to have these allegations thoroughly probed," Singh pointed out.
He later indicated to rediff.com that senior party leader George Fernandes, who had already tendered his resignation, would prove his innocence and that he was in no way involved in any corrupt deal.
That the Samata Party leaders are smarting over Fernandes's resignation became apparent when their party colleagues, Union Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar and Minister of State for Railways Digvijay Singh resigned soon after him. Party chief Jaya Jaitley had resigned earlier.
The prime minister, however, while accepting the resignations of the defence minister and the Samata party chief, turned down those of Kumar and Singh.
The fact that Vajpayee has accepted the defence minister's resignation along with Jaitley's could well spell trouble for him. Prabhunath Singh, who was accompanied by senior party colleague Raghunath Jha, looked determined that the government must look into the allegations against Bhattacharya and Mishra.
It is gradually becoming apparent that the Samata leaders are angry that Fernandes has been made a 'sacrificial lamb' at the behest of the PMO in order to save the Vajpayee government.
This is exactly the kind of 'powder keg' which the Opposition parties are looking for because the Samata leaders' stand on the issue could well dovetail with their own interests and go a long way in embarrassing Vajpayee.
Singh and Jha indicated that Fernandes's resignation would not solve the crisis which appears to be spreading, with other National Democratic Alliance partners also distinctly unhappy at the turn of events.
Significantly, the Trinamul's exit from the NDA has brought the Samata closer to the government, with party leaders calling for 'punishing' the Trinamul chief for 'stabbing the NDA in the back'.
"Who the hell does she think she is," said Singh, referring to Mamta. "Without the NDA's cooperation, she will find her Trinamul in dire straits during the assembly elections in West Bengal. Severing links with the NDA is like cutting off oxygen," he fumed.
The Complete Coverage | Defence sites
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
