Guruswamy’s allegations:
Cong demands JPC probe
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, March 16 — Demand for the institution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations levelled by the former Adviser to the Finance Minister, Mr Mohan Guruswamy, resurfaced in the Lok Sabha today with the Opposition launching a fresh attack against the government.

In a two-hour debate on Mr Guruswamy’s allegations, contained in a series of articles and interviews in newspapers, the Congress and the CPM raised point-by-point all the issues raised by former Adviser and said it was for the Government to come clear on them. The debate is to be resumed tomorrow.

Mr Vaiko, leader of the MDMK,an ally of the BJP at the Centre, came to the government’s rescue saying the allegations levelled by Mr Guruswamy, who was sacked by the government on February 3, were mere charges made by a frustrated and angry man and there was nothing substantive to corroborate them.

A former Finance Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, created a flutter in the House when he revealed correspondence between the Ministries of Steel and Commerce and sought to prove how the government had fixed the floor price for imported steel at a higher level than what was prevailing in the international market.

Going through the newspaper statements of Mr Guruswamy with a fine comb, the Deputy Leader of the Congress, Mr P.Shiv Shanker, said the JPC had become necessary to unearth the truth and the government’s claim that there was no substantive evidence on Mr Guruswamy’s charges. He said Parliament was not a court of law and it was only a JPC which could determine the correct facts of the case.

Elaborating on the various allegations levelled by Mr Mohan Guruswamy, Mr Shiv Shanker said to begin with the JPC could look into the charge that the government fixed higher import price for steel to benefit a particular industrial group. Quoting Mr Guruswamy, he said an inter-ministerial working group had recommended a referral price of $ 247 per tonne of imported steel, while the Commerce Ministry in its notification, had hiked the floor price to $ 302 per tonne, which meant a hike of $ 55. With higher floor price for imported steel, the domestic manufacturers enjoyed an unearned bonanza of $ 55 per tonne on cost of production and profits, he said.

He said the fact that Mr Guruswamy, a BJP man, had levelled allegations, it was the onus of the government to come clean on the matter.

The allegations about the involvement of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, in granting favour to a particular industrial group also needed to be looked into.

The alleged special favours shown by the government to the Hindujas with regard to a electricity project also figured in Mr Shiv Shanker’s speech.

Similarly allegations about the government being inclined to handover the shares of ITC Ltd, held by the Unit Trust of India, at a throwaway price to the British American Tobacco Company (BAT) and the government allowing Enron to raise cheap money from India instead of insisting on it bringing its own funds of abroad were very serious in nature and only a JPC would reveal the truth.

Mr Vaiko said the lawyer-like 90-minute argument of Mr Shiv Shanker had miserably failed to substantiate the case for a JPC. If there was any truth in the allegations then the Congress leader should have been able to present his case in five minutes, he said.

Quoting Mr Guruswamy’s interviews and articles in newspapers, Mr Vaiko said there were several contradictions and at no point the former Adviser had made any charges of corruption against the Finance Minister. He has contradicted himself in many sentences, Mr Vaiko added.

Mr Somnath Chatterjee said Mr Guruswamy had served in the Finance Ministry for about six months and he was privy to several decisions of the government, and his allegations could not be dismissed like this.

Referring to a note given by Mr Guruswamy to the Finance Minister on the alleged bid by BAT to take over ITC, Mr Chatterjee noted that the Finance Minister had claimed that there was no such proposal. If this was the case why did the Finance Minister not ask his Adviser to throw the note into the wastepaper basket instead of asking him to discuss it with him?

Mr Chatterjee said the government should seize the opportunity of a JPC to improve its image as the common man today was totally disgusted with the politicians.