NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha speaker, Bal Ram Jakhar, surprised both the Congress 1 and the Opposition by immediately accepting the resignations of MPs belonging to Opposition parties to amount pressure on the Rajiv Gandhi Government to resign after “indictment” by the CAG on the Bofors gun deal.

According to informed sources, Jakhar took a quick decision to accept the resignations. By resigning, the Opposition members forfeited the opportunity to embarrass the Speaker on the issue of fodder machine imports and recent charges of favoritism leveled against him in a newspaper on July 24.

These sources also claim that opposition leaders never expected such a drastic and quick decision by the speaker. They had reportedly led the Opposition MPs on the garden path as they were understood to have assured some MPs who were reluctant to resign that their resignations would not be accepted in any case. The speaker had been withholding VP. Singh’s resignation for months. He did not accept the resignations of Akali Dal (Mann) MPs as they did not fulfill the conditions laid down in the Constitution. They were surprised when the speaker announced in the Lok Sabha that their resignations had been accepted with immediate effect.

However in this case, the Speaker did not have much choice as the resignations fulfilled the three constitutional obligations the letters should be handwritten, delivered personally to the Speaker, and should be voluntary and not submitted under duress or force.

It is also learnt that the Janata Dal leader, V.P. Singh was doubtful of the Leftist parties falling in line. According to sources he rang up the West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to instruct the CPM. MPs of the Lok Sabha to submit their resignations. He had apprehensions that E.M.S. Namboodinad might scuttle the resignation move. Similar doubts were expressed. about the BJP members of the Lok Sabha but the two BJP members submitted their resignations.

‘So far out, of 106 members of the Lok Sabha 97 have tendered their resignations. The rest are either abroad or ailing. The Akali Dal (L) MP Balwant Singh Ramoowalia who has gone to Canada to attend a wedding rang up a Chandigarh Daily’s office from Toronto that they would submit his resignation immediately on return to New Delhi.

After learning to live with the embarrassment of mass resignations by Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha, the Congress I decided to taunt the members on the other side in the Rajya Sabha to quit. However, there was no response.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 4, 1989