Govt rejects plea to drop Rajiv's name
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 26 — The government today stole the Congress party’s thunder by fielding lawyer-turned-Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley to state its case on the Bofors chargesheet in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Arun Jaitley, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting deputised for the Prime Minister, who holds portfolio of Department of Personnel which oversees the functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Replying to the issue raised by the Deputy Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mr Madhavrao Scindia and his colleague Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar that late Rajiv Gandhi’s name was included with a ‘vicious intent and political purpose’, Mr Jaitley said no government had the right to delete or add any name in a chargesheet.

The day clearly did not belong to the Congress whose members staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha but remained seated in the Rajya Sabha.

Moreover, there were differences over the approach the party should take which led to one MP seeking discussion under Rule 193 and later withdrawing it.

However, a party MP said the Congress decided to walk out since it was in the Opposition in the Lok Sabha whereas the Government did not command majority in the Rajya Sabha.

In his reply to points raised by Congress Members in the Lok Sabha, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley said, " The law is very clear. The government has no right to delete or add any name in a chargesheet. It is not the government of the day but only the investigating agency or the investigating officer who has to decide".

In a similar response in the Rajya Sabha, the External Affairs minister and the leader of the house, Mr Jaswant Singh, speaking in the presence of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, denied there was any political impropriety in naming Rajiv Gandhi.

Normal business in the Rajya Sabha was suspended after the Congress member Mr Kapil Sibal questioned the propriety of including the name of the late Prime Minister as he was dead and could not defend himself. He was soon joined by other members, including E. Balanandan of the CPM and Mr Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour, Mr Madhavrao Scindia said Mr Rajiv Gandhi’s name had been "dragged in without any shred of evidence", to denigrate the Congress.

Mr Scindia was supported by his party colleague Mani Shankar Aiyer who said the naming of Mr Gandhi had been done with a "vicious intent and political purpose".

The leader of the opposition Ms Sonia Gandhi was not present in the house.

The Congress and its ally the AIADMK were not satisfied with the reply of Mr Arun Jaitley and the fact that the government had fielded Mr Jaitley who was a prosecutor in the case in the early ’90s as an additional solicitor general.

Mr P.H. Pandian’s (AIADMK) pointed out that never before had a deceased person’s name been mentioned in a chargesheet. But the Information and Broadcasting minister countered that Beant Singh’s name figured as the main conspirator in the Indira Gandhi murder case chargesheet and human bomb Dhanu’s name figured in the chargesheet in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Earlier, raising the issue, Mr Scindia said Mr Rajiv Gandhi was totally innocent of any involvement in the Bofor’s case and deletion of his name would be a good gesture to ensure meaningful cooperation to the government in Parliament.

Responding to points made by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Mr Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM, the I&B Minister said that filing of a supplementary chargesheet would be necessary as the final list of accused was being awaited from Switzerland on vacation of certain political appeals before the Swiss Federal Court. He added that filing of the chargesheet in two instalments was not intended to shield anyone as alleged by Mr Somnath Chatterjee.

Mr Jaitley said that the FIR in the case was registered only in 1990, three years after the scandal came to light.

Replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha, the leader of the House, Mr Jaswant Singh said, "It will be a sad day if the House takes upon itself the function of preparing, changing or altering the chargesheet. Let courts of law deal with it and settle it".

Denying there was any attempt to "shield" the Hindujas, Mr Singh said the government had taken up with Federal Council of Switzerland for early delivery of all relevant documents and the investigation had reached a delicate stage.

Mr Jaswant Singh said, "The Bofors case had already taken a very heavy toll and it would not serve anybody’s purpose to further delay it.