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Defence deals : Tables turned |
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The Manmohan Singh Government turned the tables on the National Democratic Alliance on the question of defence deals last week. The NDA and especially its two main constituents, the BJP and the Janata Dal United disrupted Parliament on Tuesday, April 19, when it reconvened after the recess, on the question of the two affidavits filed by the Government in the Supreme Court on defence purchases during and after the Kargil War, when JDU leader George Fernandes was Defence Minister in the Vajpayee Government. Just the next day, the UPA turned the tables on George Fernandes and his supporters with the help of a report suggesting that a South African company paid commissions to secure an Indian order for guns during his tenure as Defence Minister. UPA members stormed the well of the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament, waving copies of the report published in South African newspaper, Cape Argus. The report in the newspaper said that a South African anti-corruption agency is investigating allegations that state owned arms company, Denel, paid commissions to a British firm to win business worldwide. One of the allegations having relevance to India is that Denel paid a 12.75 per cent commission to a British company to influence India’s decision to choose Denel as the supplier of bunker busters and ammunition to the Indian Army.
Later in the week, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, informed Parliament that the Government is handing over all files pertaining to dealings with the South African arms company to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a probe. Also, he said that all contracts with the South African firm reached by the previous Vajpayee Government had been put on hold till the probe is completed.
George Fernandes and his supporters in the BJP and the NDA have termed the Government allegations as an eyewash aimed at drawing attention away from the episode of the two affidavits filed by the Manmohan Singh Government in the Supreme Court. But observers say that the South African arms deal has effectively put the previous NDA Government on the spot. It has given a handle to the Manmohan Singh Government to beat the NDA with its own stick.
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