NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, absolved the Minister of State for Food, Kalpnath Rai, of the charge of “mala fide” in the sugar muddle, triggering angry protests by the Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament.
Amidst uproarious scenes, the Lok Sabha where the Prime Minister intervened to give a clean chit to Rai was adjoumed with the Opposition members demanding action against the minister and departments held responsible by the Gian Prakash report. “Corruption has become routine with you. We cannot accept this,” Somnath Chatterjee (CPIM) remarked. ‘The Prime Minister stated: “After receiving the report, Thad called for the comments of the Minister of State for Food. He has sent his comments. 1 will need time to study the comments and go into the past precedents; I entirely agree that there are no mala fides.” He admitted: “Some loss has been caused to the Government. The delays have occurred, all this is accepted. However, there is no mala fide.”
Kalpnath Rai, the man at the center of the storm, sat all through in the Lok Sabha. He kept silent despite being occasionally provoked.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister did not utter a word even as the Government came in for embarrassment when a dissident ruling party member, Makhan Lal Fotedar, openly joined the Opposition in demanding that the Gian Prakash report be tabled. The demand generated heat in both the Houses, as it led to procedural wrangles, It was an irony that the members had read the report its five copies having been placed in the Parliament library and also quoted extensively from it and yet, the Government said in the Rajya Sabha that it could not be tabled in. the House.
In the Lok Sabha, Janata Dal and Left Front members trooped into the Well of the two Houses shouting slogans “chini chor, gaddi chhor” (sugar thief, quit) and ‘“‘report pe action lo, action lo” (take action on the report), Many of them, including Saifuddin Chaudhary, Hanan Mollah, Basudev Acharya (CPIM) and Srikant Jena (Janata Dal) dared the Speaker, Shivraj Patil, to carry out his warning of televising their demonstration in the House.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 23, 1994
