Thackeray seeks Mishra’s ouster
Mumbai, March 20
Joining the Opposition attack on the Prime Minister’s Office in the wake of the Tehelka expose, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today demanded the immediate removal of Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and Officer on Special Duty N.K. Singh from the PMO till the judicial inquiry into the scandal is completed.

Tejpal deposes before Army
New Delhi, March 20
Tehelka.com Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal today deposed before the Army’s court of inquiry and handed over the four and half-hour film that his news portal had secretly taped showing senior Army officers and politicians taking money from people posing as arms dealers.

BSP for action against Tehelka accused
New Delhi, March 20
The BSP today demanded immediate action against those who were directly involved in taking money in the fictitious arms deals shown in the Tehelka expose.

Fernandes calls on President
New Delhi, March 20
NDA convener and former Defence Minister George Fernandes today met President K.R. Narayanan and is understood to have presented his views on the recent defence deal disclosures that saw his exit from the Vajpayee Government.

DAY 9


PM non-committal on Mishra’s ouster
New Delhi, March 21
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is keeping the option of the resignation of his Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra open as a way out for resolving the present deadlock in Parliament.

George didn’t push Barak deal: Navy chief
New Delhi, March 21
Former Defence Minister George Fernandes had not pushed through the deal for Barak missiles to be deployed in warships as the Navy had made up its mind to induct the anti sea-skimming missiles after extensive trials, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sushil Kumar said today.

Govt dares Sonia for debate
Congress rejects offer
New Delhi, March 21
A day after Sonia Gandhi sought an exclusive slot on Doordarshan for the Congress to speak on Tehelka expose, the government challenged her to a one-to-one debate saying Prasar Bharati had agreed to allocate a suitable time slot for it.

Nitish: no money paid to Samata
New Delhi, March 21
The Samata Party today launched its counter-offensive on the allegations made against the party president, Ms Jaya Jaitley, in the Tehelka expose, by stating that “no money was paid” nor “any defence deal was discussed.”

Tehelka expose paralyses Houses
New Delhi, March 21
Parliament today approved the crucial vote-on-account to meet the government expenditure beyond March 31 with the Rajya Sabha returning the relevant money bills even as the Opposition continued to stall proceedings in both Houses for the seventh day over the corruption expose demanding the Vajpayee Government’s resignation.

NCP wants PM to remove Mishra
New Delhi, March 21
The National Congress Party (NCP) today demanded the removal of Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

It is a conspiracy: BJP 
New Delhi, March 21
The BJP today said that there was a conspiracy to weaken the country behind the three latest incidents — alleged burning of Qoran followed by widespread violence, tehelka.com expose and fluctuations in share markets — to weaken the economy.

DAY 10


Tehelka shows further footage
New Delhi, March 22
tehelka.com today said that it had mistakenly assumed that the money handed over at the residence of former Defence Minister George Fernandes was to Mr Sreenivasa Prasad but showed additional footage that contained a shot of an unidentified man receiving Rs 2 lakh from its reporters posing as arms dealers inside the residence.

• Defence Ministry names panel

Tehelka expose shows intelligence failure
New Delhi, March 22
While the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government is trying hard to come out of the sticky situation it has been put in by the disclosures made in the video tapes brought out by tehelka.com, questions are being raised about the role of the intelligence agencies.

Home Ministry orders probe
New Delhi, March 22
The Ministry of Home Affairs today ordered a probe against one of its officers, Mr Thomas Mathew, who has been alleged to be the mastermind behind the Tehelka expose in an article published in an English daily.

PIL for checking Tehelka from using site 
against Army
New Delhi, March 22
A public interest litigation (PIL), filed in the Delhi High Court today, sought to restrain tehelka.com from using its news portal for activities which it alleged amounted to “demoralising” the armed forces.

PM should quit, says V.P. Singh
New Delhi, March 22
A former Prime Minister, Mr V.P. Singh, today charged the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, with failing to check corruption and said his government should have resigned owning “constructive responsibility”.

VHP backs PM, for action against guilty
New Delhi, March 22
Terming the Tehelka expose as an international conspiracy to destabilise the country, the VHP, today asked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to punish everyone, including officials in the PMO, if they were found guilty in the investigations into the Tehelka expose.

DAY 11


NDA, Cong to go to people
Tehelka disclosures
New Delhi, March 23
With the stalemate in Parliament over the Tehelka tapes expose unresolved, the ruling NDA and Congress are set to take their case to people through rallies and demonstrations during the three-week recess in Parliament.

PM: Oppn should observe limits
New Delhi, March 23
The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is under attack from the Opposition after the tehelka expose, tonight asked the opposition parties to stay “within the limits of decency” even as he expressed confidence that his government would sail through the present stormy political phase.

MPs: review arms purchase modes
New Delhi, March 23
On the heels of the Tehelka expose, a parliamentary committee has come out with its report which says that secrecy in the name of defence should not be used as a weapon to cover up corruption and inefficiency in defence procurement procedures.

Tehelka tapes doctored: Advani
New Delhi, March 23
Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today asserted that the NDA government would last till it enjoyed majority.

Laxman to keep off executive meeting
New Delhi, March 23
Having embarrassed the BJP by handling wads of currency notes on the Tehelka tapes, former party president Bangaru Laxman has decided to keep away from the two-day national executive of the party beginning here tomorrow.

Oppn viewpoint ignored: CPM
New Delhi, March 23
The CPM today charged the government with ignoring the Opposition viewpoint on the Tehelka expose and said the government media was being used to downplay the charges.

DAY 12

SC ex-judge to probe expose
New Delhi, March 24
Ten days after the Tehelka expose triggered a political storm, the government today appointed a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice K. Venkataswami, a retired Supreme Court judge, to probe the allegations about bribery in defence deals involving politicians and bureaucrats made in the news portal’s video tapes.

• Edit page: After the tehelka dust settles, let the public decide

BJP’s solidarity show today
New Delhi, March 24
In the first public show of strength in the wake of the Tehelka expose, the Prime Minister and senior NDA leaders, including former Defence Minister George Fernandes, will address a rally being organised by the ruling combine here tomorrow.

BJP sees Cong conspiracy
New Delhi, March 24
Though Assembly elections in five states are still some distance away, the political battle between the Congress and the BJP-led NDA government has become fierce with both levelling charges of conspiracy against each other and planning to go on the offensive in their countrywide rallies starting tomorrow.

• CPI opposes probe into Tehelka expose

• Minister may file suit against Tehelka

DAY 13

Make party funding transparent: PM
Says media not to be blamed for expose
New Delhi, March 25
The National Executive meeting of the BJP today concluded its two- day session, finalising an elaborate strategy for regaining people’s confidence with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee stressing the need for introspection.

Govt not to resign, says Vajpayee
New Delhi, March 25
Making a frontal attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said that his government would not bow to the Opposition’s demand for its resignation.

Bid to lower forces’ morale: Fernandes
New Delhi, March 25
Former Defence Minister George Fernandes today alleged that an attempt was being made to lower the morale of the armed forces and the recent developments were part of the larger design that was going on for some years.

Congress observes ‘dhikkar divas’
Demands govt’s dismissal
New Delhi, March 25
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) workers today held a unique rally of tempos and trucks here to press for the dismissal of the Vajpayee government and arrest of those accused of taking bribe in the Tehelka expose.

Army court summons Gen Murgai
New Delhi, March 25
The Army court of inquiry has summoned retired Major-Gen S.P. Murgai, a key figure in the expose by tehelka.com on defence deals, to appear before it next week, Army sources said. Maj-General Murgai, who retired recently as Additional Director-General, Quality Assurance, Army Headquarters, has reportedly been missing since the expose.

CM ‘misleading’ masses on Tehelka
Rohtak, March 25
The HPCC chief, Mr Bhupender Singh Hooda, has alleged that the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is misleading the masses to shield the Union Government from the tehelka.com expose.

Expose casts shadow on J&K
New Delhi
Whatever else the Tehelka expose may or may not have achieved, one thing appears to be clear: policy-makers in New Delhi at most levels have put the crisis in Kashmir on the back burner.

BJP men burn Sonia’s effigy
Jammu, March 25
The Tehelka expose seems to have brought the state units of the BJP and the Congress out of their “slumber.” In reply to a protest the Congress staged here three days ago, in which effigies of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman, were set ablaze, BJP workers held protest rally here today shouting “chor machai shor”.

DAY 14


BJP men still demoralised?
New Delhi, March 26
For all its efforts in fighting the fallout of Tehelka tapes, BJP workers do not seem to have fully come out of the setback and regain their enthusiasm.

Cong: Sonia never called PM ‘gaddar’
New Delhi, March 26
The Congress today accused the NDA leaders of using harsh and provocative words against the party at its rally yesterday and said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s using words like “war” was unfortunate for democracy. 

HC notice to Mishra on J.K. Jain’s plea
New Delhi, March 26
The Delhi High Court today issued notices to the Centre, Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and Secretary Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) on a petition by Jain TV proprietor J.K. Jain, seeking inquiry into “a confidential report” describing him as an agent of Pakistan’s Intelligence Service ISI.

Edit: BJP’s tehelka session
A KEY success at the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP was its unqualified support to the economic policies of the alliance government.

DAY 15


PM’s hold on BJP weakens
New Delhi, March 27
The two day meeting of the National Executive of the BJP which concluded its deliberations here on Sunday marks the beginning of the end of the “Vajpayee era” and return to the days of “collective leadership”.

Cong smells a rat
New Delhi, March 27
The Congress today said the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry probing the Tehelka episode, had been “so carefully framed as to give a quiet burial to the stinking Tehelka scandal.”

• Notice to Tehelka reporter

Edit page:
Furore over tehelka tapes (On Target)
Questions of transparency and fair play (Opinion)

DAY 16


PPCC to screen Tehelka tapes in districts
New Delhi, March 28
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee plans to take the Tehelka expose to the people by screening the four-hour-long arms deal footage at every block and district of the state in the coming days.

Chokila’s circular on Tehelka routine: govt
New Delhi, March 28
In a damage-control exercise, the government today described Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer’s recent letter on the Tehelka expose to Indian diplomatic missions abroad as “routine advisory”.

Mathew’s reply not received: Home
New Delhi, March 28
The Ministry of Home Affairs today maintained that it had not received any reply so far from Mr Thomas Mathew, who was issued a show-cause notice and later suspended in connection with his alleged involvement in the Tehelka expose.

MP House adjourned ahead of schedule
Bhopal, March 28
The Budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was abruptly adjourned today following refusal by BJP members to cooperate. The session was scheduled to last till April 11.

DAY 17


BJP to evolve code of ethics
Party leaves door open for Trinamool
New Delhi, March 29
Shaken deeply by the Tehelka revelations, the BJP under the leadership of its new President, Mr K. Jana Krishnamurthi, today sought to regain at least some of its lost high moral ground by deciding to evolve a code of ethics for its elected representatives and for those holding any public office.

More ‘tehelkas’ to tumble out of Zee’s kitty
New Delhi, March 29
If the alleged arms deal expose by tehelka.com has shaken the country out of a collective slumber, many such “tehelka” spy camera tapes exposing corruption at different levels will soon be on the television screens bringing out the true picture of persons on the other side of the table.

BJP Secretary defends expose
New Delhi, March 29
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has stoutly defended the Tehelka tapes saying they had “exposed in the eyes of public corruption in the socio-political system” but regretted that the portal should have “checked up facts” before going public.

DAY 18


Army defends defence deals
New Delhi, March 30
Stung by the Tehelka expose, the Army today came out in defence of its procurement procedure and said that needless controversies about it would only affect the country’s defence preparedness, as had happened after the Bofors scam.

DAY 19


CVC report on defence deals
New Delhi, March 31
The final report on the defence deals since April 1989 was submitted today by the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr N. Vittal, to the Defence Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh.

Entrapment journalism and the menace of media hype
NOW that the anti-BJP media hype has allowed if not died down and talk of over-throwing the government has receded, the time has come to inquire what the Tehelka.com is all about and what it sought to achieve.

Small corruption can be ugly and costly too
SMALL is beautiful, so have we been told over the ages. But small can be ugly too. The whole nation is talking about Tehelka. They are discussing the magnitude of the mess that prevails in the country.

No Tehelka for this government
SMARTING under criticism for allowing the official media to be used by former Defence Minister George Fernandes to defend himself and announce his resignation, caution has become the new buzzword in the government.

DAY 20


Tehelka vindicates CVC report
New Delhi, April 1
Chief Vigilance Commissioner Nagaraj Vittal today said his probe report on major defence deals and allegations by politicians and defence personnel submitted to the Centre yesterday was vindicated by the Tehelka expose.

Laxman’s act indefensible: Advani
New Delhi, April 1
Home Minister L.K. Advani has termed as “indefensible indiscretion” the acceptance of Rs 1 lakh by Mr Bangaru Laxman as BJP President from fictitious arms dealers, but said he would not seek his resignation as a Rajya Sabha MP since it did not reflect “any corruption”.

Govt ‘tapping’ phones of Oppn leaders
Lucknow, April 1
Samajwadi Party (SP) President Mulayam Singh Yadav today alleged that the NDA government was tapping the telephones of Opposition leaders to implicate them in order to counter the Tehelka expose and the fallout of the new Exim Policy.

Congress not for toppling game: Reddy
New Delhi, April 1
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government may collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions, in the wake of the tehelka.com expose, according to the Congress’ chief spokesperson Jaipal Reddy.

DAY 21


Tehelka probe report this week
New Delhi, April 2
The Court of Inquiry set up by the Army to inquire into the allegations of involvement of its senior officers in defence deals, which was brought out in the video tapes released last month by the tehelka.com, is expected to give its report this week.

Corruption as ‘political fodder’!
Why value judgements by politicians?
M. G. Devasahayam
IN the wake of the tehelka.com expose the Congress has launched a crusade, nay an “all-out war”, against corruption and has condescended to lead a coalition to unseat the much-maligned BJP-led government at the Centre. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but for whom the BJP would never have captured power in the first place, put much rhetoric in her Bangalore speech.

DAY 22

Govt acted ‘swiftly’ on Tehelka issue
Tiruchirapalli, April 3
Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has said the National Democratic Alliance government led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had acted speedily on the Tehelka tapes issue by ordering a judicial inquiry into the allegations of bribery in defence deals.

Edit: Weaknesses in the BJP and NDA
New challenges before Vajpayee govt
AS the two main political formations digest the consequences of the tehelka.com tapes, the Bharatiya Janata Party has finally got the message while the Congress is still unsure of its next move. 

DAY 23

CVC report on defence deals under study: MoD
Navy’s bid to clear air on Barak missiles
New Delhi, April 4
The report on major defence deals submitted by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last week is being examined by top officials of the ministry.

Tehelka expose probe begins
New Delhi, April 4
The commission of inquiry headed by Justice K. Venkataswamy to go into the Tehelka expose today began its work at Vigyan Bhavan, where it has been provided office.

Tehelka expose ‘helping’ Pak
Hyderabad, April 4
Alleging a wider conspiracy behind the Tehelka expose, NDA leaders L.K. Advani and George Fernandes today said the Opposition parties’ “campaign of calumny” against the government was indirectly benefiting Pakistan as sensitive defence information was now reaching the neighbouring country.

Edit: An avalanche of shameful scams
Are we becoming a nation of crooks?
Inder Malhotra
What kind of a people, society, nation or state are we Indians becoming? Whatever else may or may not be said about the Tehelka tapes, they have shown how porous, corrupt and easily accessible to despicable sleazeballs the entire system of defence procurement is. More chillingly, they have also nailed leaders of the BJP and the Samata Party for happily accepting or expressing their willingness to accept “donations” in black money from fake arms dealers anxious to promote a fictitious defence deal.