M A I N   N E W S

Queering the pitch
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
Has the BJP crisis management committee displayed its naiveté in acknowledging that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee expressed his desire to quit office as the NDA was functioning at sixes and sevens?

Major political parties rocked by leadership crises in the past have quietly unleashed their media managers for containing the fallout and minimising the damage. In this case, a brief four-para statement purportedly drafted by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and cleared by the Prime Minister was released by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Mr Vajpayee’s offer to bow out of office due to the emergence of several uncomfortable power centres signifies frustration and an inexorable drift in governance. That appears to have considerably queered the pitch for Mr Vajpayee who is under increasing attack from the hawks in the Sangh Parivar and certain constituents of the NDA like the Shiv Sena.

The statement has caused incalculable damage to Mr Vajpayee’s image as an elder statesman. 

Advantage Prime Minister
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s startling offer today to resign is a calculated political move caused by a ‘sulking’ George Fernandes and aimed at neutralising the former Defence Minister.

Well placed sources said Vajpayee played the trump card of his resignation with the objective of nullifying the ‘Fernandes effect’ by seeking a fresh mandate from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday.

Mr Vajpayee had already won “round one” by this evening when Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray rang him up expressing regret for the controversy created by his member in the Rajya Sabha, Sanjay Nirupam, which gave the impression that Mr Nirupam was speaking on his (Thackeray’s) behalf.

Mr Thackeray is said to have made it clear to the Prime Minister that what Mr Nirupam told the House on Monday were his own views and not that of the Shiv Sena.

Besides, the Union Cabinet which met this evening under the chairmanship of Mr Vajpayee, expectedly threw its weight behind the BJP stalwart and expressed unequivocal faith in his leadership.

The NDA will meet tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. and Mr Fernandes is expected to attend the meeting.

Mr Fernandes is said to be peeved over the four-month extension to the Venkataswamy Commission probing the Tehelka expose in defence deals. It is evident that Mr Fernandes will have to cool his heals for another four to six months before he is reinducted in the Union Cabinet.

It was quite dramatic the way in which Mr Vajpayee offered to resign this morning. The Prime Minister told Mr Mahajan, who was conducting the proceedings of the BJP Parliamentary Party, that he wished to say something. Mr Mahajan was surprised to hear this as Mr Vajpayee seldom makes a request to speak.

Mr Mahajan asked External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh to find out from Mr Vajpayee what he wanted to say. When Mr Jaswant Singh asked

Mr Vajpayee about it, he was told about the resignation offer.

Sources said Mr Jaswant Singh was upset after Mr Vajpayee told him about the resignation offer. Those present at the parliamentary party meeting were taken aback seeing Mr Mahajan, Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Vajpayee taking in whispers.

Suddenly Mr Vajpayee grabbed the mike and started speaking. The rest, as they say, is history.

Interestingly, top BJP leader and Union Home Minister L.K. Advani was not present when Mr Vajpayee offered to resign. Mr Advani was leaving when Mr Vajpayee was entering as the Home Minister had to rush to his office to prepare his reply on the Phoolan Devi murder case.

Cong: PM’s offer political stunt
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
Demanding a response from the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about the allegations of the PMO’s role in the UTI investments, the Congress today said the offer of the Prime Minister to resign was designed to pre-empt a probe into the issue. The Congress indicated that it would continue to press for a clarification by the Prime Minister in the Parliament tomorrow.

Describing the resignation offer as a “drama and political stunt,” party spokesman Jaipal Reddy said several facts about intervention of the PMO in regard to investments by the UTI had come to surface since yesterday. “There is a strategy to sidetrack the issue by the resignation drama,” he said.

Mr Reddy said the silence of the Prime Minister in regard to these facts in the past 24 hours amounted to admission of guilt. “Everyone knows that Cyberspace company promoted by the Johri brothers, who are attached to the RSS, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister himself. All these facts can’t be wished away by political stunts.”

Maintaining that the Prime Minister had not come to the Rajya Sabha and answer points regarding PMO’s role in UTI deal, Mr Reddy demanded a statement from Mr Vajpayee in both Houses. He said the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha should also come and reply in both Houses.

He said that offer of the Prime Minister to resign and his instant willingness to withdraw resignation amounted to “high drama and low comedy.”