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Political Notes

	January 17, 2005

Taj corridor scam : Mayawati off the hook



Political equations in Uttar Pradesh are set to change with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) deciding to file a closure report in the Supreme Court in the Taj Corridor Scam. This follows Attorney General Milon Banerjee giving his view that there is only room for departmental action against officials in the case for irregularities in the project, but there was no criminal intent. The CBI is preparing to submit a final report before the apex court saying that it does not have enough evidence to sustain a case of criminal conspiracy against Mayawati and others named in the First Information Report (FIR) filed in October 2003. Mayawati had resigned as Chief Minister after the scandal came to light and several of her key officials were suspended by the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government which succeeded her.

Analysts say that closure of the case will not only bring Mayawati closer to the Congress, but would also have an implication for UP politics. Buoyed by its recent successes, the Congress would look forward to an alliance with the BSP for reaching out to the dalits, the down-trodden, in the state. The Congress party seems to have endorsed the CBI action with party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi claiming that the agency had been convinced by the legal position before closing the case.



Mayawati on her part has accused the BJP, her former ally, of trying to implicate her for political gains. She said “the Taj scam is a false case which was put on me as part of a conspiracy to force BSP support. They wanted to pressurise me, but I did not fall in their trap.”



Babri mosque case : CBI may move Supreme Court

Reports say that the CBI is likely to move the Supreme Court to seek a fresh notification from the Uttar Pradesh Government in the Babri Masjid demolition case. BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others have been accused of conspiring to demolish mosque. The CBI, which had earlier, exonerated Advani in the conspiracy case, changed its stand in the High Court after the change in the political scenario at the Centre. Since the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh has been dilly-dallying in issuing a fresh notification in the case, it is learnt that the CBI plans to seek apex court’s intervention.



Land scam in Delhi

The Yogesh Chandra Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Manmohan Singh Government has brought to light irregularities in land allotment by the previous NDA Government. It found that in 32 cases of allotment, there was no adherence to prescribed procedures and allotments were made on the recommendations of the then Urban Development Ministers, Ananth Kumar and Jagmohan. In 22 of these cases, the beneficiaries were the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and organisations supported by it. The Sangh outfits to which land was allotted include Akhil Bharatiya Parishad, Samarth Shiksha Samiti and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.



Former Union Minister Jagmohan, however, denied that there was any violation of rules and regulations in the allotment of institutional land to non-governmental organisations during his tenure as Urban Development Minister from June 1999 to August 2001.



Kanchi Shankracharya saga



The case of murder allegedly involving the Shankracharya of Kanchipuram, Jayendra Saraswati, continued to be in the news during the week with the pontiff ultimately getting bail from the Supreme Court. But the junior Shankracharya, Vijayendra Saraswati was arrested by Tamil Nadu police in the case. Later in the week, the state Government issued a statement that it has no proposal to takeover the administration of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. State Home Secretary Pawan Raina said there is no change in the government’s stand announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in November last year. There was speculation earlier that the Kanchi Peetam may be taken over by the State Government to end the alleged mismanagement in the shrine.

The state government froze the bank accounts operated in the name of the Kanchi Mutt. After the Shankracharya was granted bail by the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa ordered the replacement of the state police chief and Home Commissioner.



In a related development, Jayalalithaa brushed aside the Centre’s advice to tread cautiously on the Shankracharya issue. She sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defending the arrest of the junior pontiff, Vijayendra Saraswati. Jayalalithaa said the Government’s action was in furtherance of the dictum that all are equal before the law. The Prime Minister had written to Jayalalithaa on January 6 saying that the Centre had the information that she planned to arrest the junior pontiff. If that happened, Manmohan Singh had said, it would mean absence of both the pontiffs from the shrine and disruption of the daily prayers.



The BJP has demanded the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu Government for acting in “a biased and prejudiced manner” against the Kanchi Shankracharya. Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said the party viewed the entire episode as “an assault on the cultural and religious rights of the Hindus.”



Bofors scam : Quattrocchi’s funds may be released



Reports say that the British Government is about to release Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi’s Rs. 21 crore frozen by a London bank. This is because the CBI has failed to submit proof that the money was received by him from the Swedish arms manufacturer, Bofors, as a kickback. Official sources say the British Government had requested the Indian Government to submit substantive proof by June 2004 that the money was a kickback from the Bofors gun deal inked in 1986, otherwise it would not be possible to keep the account frozen for long.



On the request of India, the British Government had frozen three million Euros and one million dollars (about Rs. 21 crore) in accounts numbers 5A5156L and 5A51516M in BSI Ag Bank, London deposited by Quattrocchi, against whom an Interpol Red Corner Notice is pending.



Despite collecting some evidence from abroad since May 2004, the CBI is yet to submit them either to the British Government or to the trial court which is hearing a case against Quattrocchi.



Disaster Management Authority to be set up. Inhe wake of the Tsunami tragedy, the Manmohan Singh Government has decided to set up a national disaster management authority. A Bill will be introduced in the Budget Session of Parliament beginning next month to give the authority statutory status. The Government has also accepted the demand of all political parties for evolution of an early warning mechanism for Tsunamis.



Meanwhile, the Centre has clarified further its position on aid from outside to tackle national disasters. The Government says that it is ready to receive help from multilateral agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for the rehabilitation of those hit by the Tsunami. India has also conveyed to the United States that it will require long-term international assistance to deal with the tragedy. The need for long time international aid was conveyed to the US Congress delegation which met the Prime Minister and the Ministers for External Affairs, Finance and Home. The delegation will give inputs to the US Congress on how to structure aid to Tsunami-hit countries.