NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Madhavsinh Solanki resigned on March 31 inaugurating 4 new noisy spell in the Bofors gun deal scandal.
The resignation came in the course of a rash of political events spurred by his own admission less than 24 hours ago that he had passed onto his Swiss counterpart note with unknown contents on the Bofors case given to him by an unnamed lawyer.
“The resignation was accepted by President R. Venkatarama later in the evening after Prime Minister Narasimha Rao met him to explain the situation personally.
Mr. Solanki who kept himself incommunicado soon after his confessional statement in Parliament on the disclosures made in Indian Express was not present when the news of his resignation was broken in both Houses in response to questions from agitated opposition members.
“The air reeked of the impending resignation right from the morning but it was only shortly before lunch hour that the announcement came.
The news was broken by Home Minister S.B. Chavanin the Rajya Sabha when the question was put him directly
Mr Chavans report that Mr. Solanki had submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao ignited a furious scene with opposition members demanding in one loud voice a statement from Mr. Rao.
However no such statement came before the house rose for the day and there was a walkout in protest.
In the Lok Sabha Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad tied to ward off the initial barbs directed at Mr. Solanki from opposition benches. There was a bid by George Fernandez (JD) to censure Mr Solanki but Speaker Shivraj Patil had not got its notice.
It was when opposition leader LK. Advan (BJP) suggested at. (BJF) suggested at one stage that the censure motion would be quite in order that Mr. Azad announced that Mr. Solanki had resigned.
Since the resignation was accepted in the evening and with no word coming from Mr. Rao on this earlier there remained an air of suspense but no one had any doubt about what lay in store for Mr Solanki.
As Mr. Advani put it, the minister had no option but to step down after making such a “monumental blunder.”
Jaipal Reddy (ID) opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha said the resignation did not provide answers to the questions thrown up on the subject.
Sikander Bakht BP leader in the Upper House echoed the sentiments when he said he viewed the whole thing as the beginning not the end of the controversy.
What he had in mind was a resolution demanding a full probe into the shady gun deal which has been engaging public opinion in the country for over five years.
The BJP resolution strongly suggesting that nothing be allowed to scuttle the probe is likely to earn endorsement from all opposition groups.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992
