NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narasimha Rao is believed to have kept both his principal political rivals, Defence Minister Sharad Pawar and Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, On tenterhooks about what action he plans to take on corruption charges against them.
While 36 Opposition members have signed a memorandum asking the Prime Minister to discuss Pawar for his alleged role in the Bombay land scam, the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh has sought to revive the Churhat lottery case against Singh.
Although it is the Opposition which is in the forefront of the campaign against the two ministers, an interesting game is being played behind the scenes of the ruling party reportedly with the tacit support of Rao to embarrass the Congress heavyweights.
The role of certain Congress MPs in the sudden demand by the Opposition for the Defence Minister’s head is an open secret in ruling party circles. The Congress MPs who are said to be active in the anti-Pawar campaign include former Maharasthra Chief Minister Abdul Rehman Antulay and Vishwajit Prithvijit Singh, a close aide of the late Rajiv Gandhi.
In fact, it is some Congressmen who distributed copies of the recent Bombay High Court Judgement passing strictures against Pawar to Opposition MPs several weeks before they submitted their memorandum to the Prime Minister. A group of Congress MPs are reported to have also met Rao and asked him to take action against the Defence Minister.
Amongst the lobbies within the ruling party active against Pawar are a dissident group in Maharashtra, supporters of Home Minister $.B.Chavan who is a bitter foe of the Defence Minister and members of the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi coterie who have always been antagonistic to Pawar.
Interestingly, although the Bombay High Court Judgement reportedly does not say anything damaging about Pawar beyond ruling that as Maharashtra Chief Minister he did not apply his mind enough in the allotment of government land in Bombay, the Prime Minister has not involved in the campaign against the Defence Minister, In fact, the anti Pawar camp in the ruling party appears confident that they have the tacit support of Rao.
So far the number of Congress MPs who are ready to openly show their hand against Pawar is not more than 15 but the campaign against the Defence Minister could gather momentum in the ruling party if the Prime Minister gives a green signal. Congress insiders, however, feel that Rao is unlikely to take any drastic action against Pawar because of its adverse political fallout. The Prime Minster is also likely to take a similar approach to the BJP move to revive the Churhat lottery case. Here again there are lobbies within the Congress which would like to see Arjun Singh corruption case with Rao choosing to neither support nor scotch the move against the Madhya Pradesh heavyweight.
The Prime Minister’s strategy appears to be motivated by two basic factors. He cannot afford to take nasty measures against such senior Cabinet colleagues without seriously destabilizing his own government. On the other hand, Rao would be glad to keep the two main contenders for power in the Congress hamstrung by the Damocles sword of possible action against them should they pose too serious a challenge.
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 14, 1992
