Resignation offer was oral: PM
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, today informed the Rajya Sabha that three ministers of his team Mr L.K. Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Ms Uma Bharati had expressed their desire to resign but never submitted their resignations.

“While Mr Advani and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi had orally expressed their desire to resign and Ms Uma Bharati had said that she would also not like to remain in the Cabinet in such a situation,” he said while responding to a submission made during zero hour by the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Manmohan Singh, and some others.

Dr Manmohan Singh made the submission while pointing out that the issue had been raised yesterday and reminding that the Leader of the House, Mr Jaswant Singh had assured that the wish of the members would be communicated to the Prime Minister. He said since the Prime Minister himself was present in the House, the members would get to know of the real picture.

The Prime Minister said he would have made a statement in Parliament if the ministers had submitted their resignation letters and if he had accepted them. “I don’t understand what statement the members expect from me when they only expressed their desire and had not submitted their resignations,” he said.

Mr Vajpayee asserted he had not made any statement on the resignation episode. This was, however, contested by the opposition members who said he had made a statement in this regard to the electronic media.

The Prime Minister said he had not made any statement. But when the media approached him on the resignation episode outside Parliament he had to respond and state the factual position. “I have no intention to hide facts or keep the House in the dark,” he added.

The Prime Minister however ignored pleas by the opposition members to divulge reasons cited by Mr Advani and Dr Joshi while offering to resign.

Both Houses of Parliament had yesterday witnessed uproarious scenes over the issue. While the Congress tried to bring a privilege notice against the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha charging him with misleading the House, the Left in the Rajya Sabha had made a strong demand that he should inform the House about the exact position.

After the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Manmohan Singh reminded the Leader of the House about his promise yesterday, the Prime Minister in his response told the House that “some ministers had expressed their desire to resign.