NEW DELHI: The Jain hawala scandal claimed its first set of ministerial Scalps this week when, after a brief show of defiance, the three Union ministers, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, Mr, Balram Jakhar and Mr. Vidya Charan Shukla, resigned from the Cabinet. The resignations were immediately forwarded by the prime minister to the President for acceptance.

The resignations came after the party high command left the three leaders. to fend for themselves. While Mr. Narasimha Rao clarified in Calcutta that the law would take its course, the party spokesman, Mr.V.N. Gadgil.

Made the message loud and clear by saying that what these ministers choses to do was their own business, and not that of the party.

To leave nothing to chance, Mr. Rao had called a cabinet meeting to amplify the message, if that was required. Bot with the ministers reading the signals correctly and their resignations coming in, the meeting would probably be limited to assessing the political fallout of the expanding scandal.

The high command’s message, however, was no immediately heeded by the ministers. To begin with, there was a distinct reluctance on their part to put in their paper. Mr, Scindia, for instance, is understood to have told his friends that his honesty was well known, and nor was he squeamish about relinquishing office. He was a man of considerable substance as well, and the charge is accepting a “petty” bribe was, therefore, preposterous. Now if he were to resign, it would be seen as an admission of his guilt.

Apparently, this defiant attitude of Mr. Scindia’s was in sharp contrast to his initial reaction, when he expressed his desire to quit at the earliest, despite his assertion that he was a victim

apolitical frame-up. It is learnt that he changed tack after a conversation with Mr, Jakhar, who while facing a similar predicament, counseled resistance to this ‘political conspiracy,” Mr, Jekhar had a talk with Mr, Shukla as well.

 

Mr, Jakhar was a picture of defiance. While claiming that the charges against him were politically motivated, he even toyed with the idea of demanding a CWC meeting to un+ ravel the ‘conspiracy.’ As a matter of fact, he went so far as to invoke his kisan background, and declared that he would fight it out.

The reason why Mr. Jakhar had readied his defense was because he had been summoned by the prime minister last week to be told what was in store for him, It is learnt that Mr. Rao. had refused to heed Mr, Jakhar’s plea for his intervention, saying that he had nothing to do with the CBI’s investigations.

The ministers’ defiance, however, petered out once the high command ‘signaled that if meant business, although the bitterness showed through Mr. Scindia’s lament that it is unfortunate that an agency of the government which I have served faithfully and with integrity has chosen to level such charges.” Given the loud protestations of Mr, Jakhar and Mr. Shukla about their innocence, there is little doubt that they, too, are just as bitter.

Notwithstanding their bitterness and the resultant possibility of them seeking to rally opinion in the party jin their favor, Mr, Raoisun likely to ldse any sleep over this. His confidence was apparent in Mr. Gadgil’s assertion, made while the ministers still nursed their rebellious mood that everything would be sorted out in the next two days.

The party leader’s confidence as pears to be premised on the calculation that the average Congress(I) MP was happy with the below that the CBI has delivered to the party’s main rival, the BJP, by smearing the “Mr. Clean’ image of Mr. L.K. Advani, as well as by the fact that the CBI action has taken the sting out of the Opposition’s campaign against Corruption. This apart, it is rec! That, even if unwittingly, the development has brightened ‘the possibility of a post poll alliance with the NFLF against the ‘communal’ BJP.

And if the tone and tenor of conversations with ruling party MPs were anything to go by, the high command appeared to have got its calculations bang on, The option, as sought to be presented in its more stark form by the leadership, was quite simple cither sacrifice the three ministers or perish in the polls, And the choice was clear, perhaps facilitated by the fact that none of the three casualties Can exactly be called political heavy weights. With Mr, Advani setting tone. It is also doubted if these three ministers will get party tickets in the coming Lok Sabha polls, while legally speaking with the ministers are deemed cent until proved otherwise, politically, giving tickets to them Would be giving the BJP an opportunity to wriggle out of the tight spot in which it finds itself.

With things worn? Out rather pat for the high command, it was spared of the unhappy task of giving the President, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, its opinion on whether the ministers deserved to be prosecuted.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 24, 1996