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In view of the Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's allegation
of a conspiracy between BJP and CBI over a letter to the PM. by
Shri A.B. Vajpayee, the latter issued a clarification.
All kinds of unwarranted motives are being attributed to my letter
to the Prime Minister, dated April 24, 1997. In that letter, I had
pointed out to the Prime Minister that despite having given an
undertaking to the Patna High Court that it would give a definite
answer about the conspiracy aspect of the Rs 950 crore fodder
scandal by April 28, the CBI Director "has now decided to play for
time in the matter" by "taking the plea that while the accounts of
1994-95 establishes their (the 85 persons against whom prosecution
was recommended by the Special Director) guilt, they should examine
the accounts for the period 1991-94 to make the case foolproof.
My letter was an expression of apprehension-that despite the Prime
Minister's assurance, on the floor of the House that he would not
protect any guilty person, the CBI may choose to delay the filing
of chargesheets on one pretext or the other. In a sense the letter
can be construed as criticism of the CBI chiefs earlier attempt to
delay the proceedings.
Surprisingly, some politicians of the Janata Dal, including the
Bihar Chief Minister have levelled the allegation that the letter
was written at the behest of the CBI! Given the contents of the
letter, this allegation can at best be described as ridiculous and
reflects the desperation of these politicians.
A second point that has been made pertains to my mentioning
"accused no. 24 in ,the conspiracy, case". It is being asked as to
how did I get the information about the list of accused and that
"accused no. 24", as it has now turned out, is Shri Laloo Prasad
Yadav. Nowhere did I mention in my letter, copies of which were
made public on April 25. that "accused no. 24" is Shri Yadav. As
for my source of information. it is a matter of privilege.
Indeed, the source of this information is immaterial and not a moot
point at all. What is pertinent is whether or not this information
is correct. During the discussion on the fodder scandal in the Lok
Sabha on April 30, some members from the Treasury benches sought to
obfuscate the issue at hand by raising questions about the source
of my information. It is a pity that they did not seek an
explanation from the Government as to whether the information is
correct, which they ought to haste done.
It is entirely up to the Janata Dal as to how it deals with the
matter. It is their internal affair. But the Government owes an
explanation about what it propose to do and whether it will
actively pursue the prosecution of those against whom the CBI has
recommended prosecution.
The Government is not answerable to the Janata Dal or the United
Front, but to Parliament and the nation. Let the Prime Minister
remember this simple fact while dealing with the fodder scandal.
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