In his four pages reply to the show Cause notice issued by AICE disciplinary committee Chairman K.Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, for his Elegances against the Party leadership, Bangarappa asked Reddy to first serve a Showcase notice On Rao for “his actions and inactions causing embarrassment to the true Congressmen all over the country.” He said, “Narasimha Rai’s virtually presiding over the disintegration of the Congress party.”
He added, “It is high time that all true Congressmen come together and fight the retrograde policies of the present leadership in the Overall interest of the party and the country.” Rao was not capable of taking political decisions on Sensitive issues but he was good at taking shelter, under judiciary which only proved that he was an escapist, he further added. “The propriety of issuing showcases notice for making a statement that was nothing but true, honest and factual, is itself open to question, and it is a wanton attempt to throttle truth and the cherished Principle of inner party democracy. Rao is intolerant of differing Views, stooping to any depth to safeguard his position. How sad that such a miserable leadership befell on @ national movement, that is Indian National Congress which was conceived and brought up by great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Azad, Netaji, Shastriji, Indira Gandhi and Rajivi, The present fall is precipitous and deep,” the letter said. Bangarappa said that today the hapless rank and file of the Congress all over the country observes @ political ‘scorpion’ in Rao (a baby scorpion emerges after splitting wide its mother scorpion’s body). He stated that the country was cursed with the burden of a man as its prime minister, who was bereft of morals and scruples. Reiterating his earlier stand, Bangarappa stated that Rao was responsible for breaking the secular fabric of the country which ‘was laid, nurtured, and made dear by stalwarts like Indira Gandhi, Rajiy Gandhi, V.P.Singh and Chandra Shekhar.
Bangarappa said ever since Rao took over as prime minister he had been soft with BJP which had encouraged the party to demolish the Babri Masjid. “*To add insult to injury, he is denying through Home Minister $.B.Chavan the assurance he made in and outside the Parliament that the mosque would be rebuilt, [tis a mockery of the secular minded public.”
He said Union Minister Arjan Singh, who rightly proposed an apology by the Union Government and the Congress Party to the minorities for its inability to protect the mosque, was turned down by Rao. Did this indifference not call for show cause notice on Singh, he asked. Kerala Chief Minister K, Karunakaran’s attribution of the Ottapalam poll defeat to the demolition of Babri Masjid, added to the discomfiture of the prime minister. Had the latter been given a show because notice, he asked? Similarly he wanted to know whether R.Kumaramangalam and Col.Ram Singh were also served with the show cause notices for expressing their views about the recent elections and ticket distribution.
Describing Rao as “a tyrant to the weak and apple polisher to the strong,” former chief minister questioned why Rao did not step down when it was revealed that share broker Hiten, Dalal invested Rs 2 crore in Gold Star, a firm owned by Rao’s son.
“Rao is systematic and cool in capturing the Congress Party. He managed to remove one by one all the chief ministers who enjoyed the confidence of late Rajiv Gandhi.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 24, 1993
