Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 29, 2008
Baalu row stalls both Houses
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) forwarded
as many as eight letters to the Petroleum Ministry for allotment of gas to
the firms owned by the two sons of Shipping Minister TR Baalu, but the Congress
sees nothing wrong in that!
As the issue continued to rock Parliament,
the party defended the PMO and said that forwarding letters is a common practice
and did not necessarily mean endorsing the contents.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said:
"The PMO had forwarded the requests to the Ministry. There is no question
of endorsing or agreeing with the contents."
The Opposition is unlikely to buy this line
of argument because it is understood that few officials will have the courage
to go against a letter forwarded by the PMO. Also, it is difficult to believe
that eight letters on the same subject could have been forwarded by the PMO
to a Ministry and no one notice any thing unusual about it.
Caught in a difficult situation, the Government
is hoping that the controversy will subside after Parliament Session with
political parties getting busy with Karnataka Assembly poll.
Senior Congress leaders said that the party
would not press for Baalu's resignation, as it was an internal matter of DMK
and not the Congress. However, it is obvious that Baalu's had committed a
gross misconduct in seeking favour for his sons and the Government needed
to at least order an inquiry into the whole episode.
When asked to comment on the Congress views
on Baalu's conduct, Singhvi said, "We want probity in public life and
do not want anything less than that."
According to sources, Petroleum Minister Murli
Deora is likely to make a statement in Parliament clarifying the limited involvement
of PMO in forwarding the letters. Though the Opposition is likely to press
for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's personal clarification on the floor of
the House, there won't be any statement from Singh. Sources said that the
Congress is seeing this as a "non-issue" that is unlikely to tarnish
the image of the PMO.
The scandal, however, rocked both Houses of
Parliament again with an agitated Opposition demanding clarification from
the PM. Keeping up pressure on the Government, members belonging to the NDA
staged a walkout in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha after they were
not allowed to raise the issue.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP, JD(U) and MDMK members
were on their feet as soon as the House met prompting an agitated Speaker
Somnath Chatterjee to resort to switching off live telecast briefly. Raising
the matter, Opposition members demanded an immediate statement by the Government
over the issue and trooped into the well chanting slogans like "dismiss
Baalu" and "save PMO from malpractices".
The Treasury benches retaliated by alleging
"misuse" of PMO during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure.
The Speaker refused to accept their demand
for an immediate clarification by the Prime Minister, saying the Question
Hour should be allowed.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya
Sabha with the Leader of Opposition Jaswant Singh charging that the Prime
Minister was directly involved with the issue and demanded an answer from
him.
Earlier, the BJP-led NDA and AIADMK staged
a walkout when chairman Hamid Ansari refused their plea to suspend the Question
Hour and take up the Baalu issue. Senior BJP leaders including Murli Manohar
Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and SS Ahluwalia could be seen appealing to the Chair
to allow them to raise the issue and Ansari said they could do so after the
Question Hour.
Raising the matter after the Question Hour,
Jaswant said since the Prime Minister was "directly involved," he
should come to the House and clarify the situation. "We do want an answer
from the Prime Minister," he said.
The BJP leader said the PMO wrote eight times
to the Petroleum Ministry on this issue and rejected as "very curious"
the argument given by the Government that the PMO did not mean the Prime Minister.
Maintaining that the PMO was the "direct
extension" of the Prime Minister, Jaswant said though the issue was being
raised every day, the response of the Government was "not forthcoming"
and it has made the matter more complicated.
As the Opposition persisted with its demand
for a response from the Government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar
Ravi assured the House that the Government would look into the issue and respond
to it later.
AIADMK leader V Maitreyan also raised the
matter during the Zero Hour and said while the Surface Transport Minister
was honest in stating the truth in the upper House, the PMO was not truthful
and the Prime Minister should come to the House and clarify the position.