NEW DELHI: Ram Niwas Mirdha, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the scam, is in a dilemma. Mirdha is finding it difficult to perform the dual role of an independent chairman of a Parliamentary Committee while being a Congress MP, especially now when the scam has engulfed the Narasimha Rao Government.
From an independent, forthright, frank, neutral, matter of fact and a witty chairman whose remarks often caused embarrassment to the ruling party, his selective and well-rehearsed press briefings now give an impression that pressure from the top level in the Congress is finally telling on him.
Opposition members feel that Mirdha, who has been fairly impartial till now, may ultimately buckle under pressure from the panic ridden Congress and its MPs in the JPC at a time when the Committee’s probe has entered its final but the most crucial stage of investigation in wake of the Big Bull’s charge of Rs 1 crore payoff to the Prime Minister and the severe indictment of the government in the JPC draft report.
The political nexus in the scam took another twist on July 9 when a former member (investigation) of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) exposed the dillydallying and scuttling by the Ministry of Finance of investigation against Big Bull Harshad Mehta.
Ina letter to Ram Niwas Mirdha, chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the scam, the former member, P.K.Gupta, has laid bare the involvement of Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, the then Minister of State for Finance Rameshwar Thakur, the then Finance Secretary K.P.Geethakridman and some other top government officials in scuttling and delaying investigations against the Big Bull.
The JPC has sought explanation from the Finance Ministry on the role of the persons named by Gupta in his letter, It has also given a week’s time as the Ministry 10 submit the relevant files and records which, Gupta says, would prove his contention.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 23, 1993