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Political Notes |
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‘Mole’ in PM’s office : Name given to Manmohan Singh
Senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh says that he has given the name and other details of the ‘mole’ in the PMO during the Narasimha Rao Government to Dr. Manmohan Singh. Speaking on the sidelines of a function in Mumbai at which his book - A Call to Honour - was released, Jaswant Singh said he had requested for time with the Prime Minister twice, but there was no response. Therefore, he said, he had sent the entire text of the letter to him with no names omitted, no details removed. Jaswant Singh said the letter has been with the Prime Minister for more than 24 hours and it is now up to Manmohan Singh to do whatever is right in the national interest.
Earlier, Dr. Manmohan Singh had decided not to respond to Jaswant Singh’s offer to disclose the identity of the “mole” in the Prime Minister’s office during Narasimha Rao’s regime. Sources say that the thinking in the Government is that Jaswant Singh should have shared the information with proper authorities at the right time. It may be recalled that former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani had expressed the view that the former External Affairs Minister was guilty of a criminal offence under Section 126 of the Indian Penal Code for not disclosing the name of the `mole’ to the lawful authorities.
In the meantime, V.S. Arunachalam, a former scientific advisor to the Defence Minister has rubbished reports that he was the mole in Narasimha Rao’s PMO that Jaswant Singh has referred to in his book.
The RSS has criticised Jaswant Singh for sitting on the secret of the ‘mole’ for ten years. An article in the latest issue of the RSS mouthpiece, Panchjanya, said that it was beyond comprehension why Jaswant Singh had to keep quiet on the said US ‘mole’ in the PMO for a such a long time.
PM’s residence security breached
Three youngsters in a car breached the high security cordon around the Prime Minister’s residence on July 27 when Dr. Manmohan Singh was chairing a cabinet meeting. They drove right upto the gate from where Union Ministers are allowed entry.
The three, two of them girls, were later arrested, and after interrogation released on bail. The Prime Minister’s Office tried to play down the incident. PMO spokesman Sanjaya Baru said that there was no security breach and that people can come upto the reception area saying that they have an appointment. On interrogation they said they wanted to meet the Prime Minister just for fun.
Quota issue : Moily panel suggests implementation in phases
The Oversight Committee appointed to draw up a roadmap to implement 27 per cent reservation for the other backward classes (OBCs) in institutes of higher education has submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office. Sources say that the interim report merely states that the implementation process needs to commence from the next academic session 2007-08. It avoids stating that it has to be implemented in one go from the next academic session. Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh was in favour of implementing reservation for OBCs in one go.
There are also reports that the Centre is keen to ensure that legislation for providing OBC reservation in higher educational institutions goes through in the current Monsoon session of Parliament.
Monsoon session cut short
The Monsoon session of Parliament, which was scheduled to conclude on August 30, will now end on August 25. The move follows a request by members from Maharashtra who said they wanted to be in their constituencies for Ganesh Chaturthi which falls on August 27.
After an agreement was reached between party leaders in the Speaker’s chamber on Friday, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced the curtailment of he session in the Lok Sabha. To make up for lost time, the House would, from August 1, sit daily (Monday to Friday) till 8 p.m.
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