New Delhi, December 9
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will make a statement in both Houses of Parliament tomorrow during the zero hour on the bribery scandal allegedly involving his former minister, Mr Dilip Singh Judeo.
The Prime Minister wrote a letter to the Presiding Officers of the two Houses conveying this and regretting his inconvenience to make the much-awaited statement today as scheduled.
Mr Vajpayee would make the statement in the Lok Sabha at noon tomorrow just after the question hour and would read out the similar statement in the Rajya Sabha at 12.30 pm.
The significant thing was that the PM’s statement in the Rajya Sabha would be more important as the members were sure to seek clarifications from Mr Vajpayee.
Political sources said the Prime Minister’s statement on the Judeo issue was likely to be brief. Though the statement would not talk about the Ajit Jogi tape controversy, the Prime Minister was sure to raise the Jogi issue if any clarifications were asked in the Rajya Sabha.
In the Lok Sabha, there was no tradition of seeking clarifications from the Prime Minister.
However, it was understood that the Vajpayee government was willing to have a discussion under rule 193 in the Lok Sabha on the Judeo issue at a date to be decided by Speaker Manohar Joshi. There was no provision of voting in debates under Rule 193.
The Prime Minister could not make the promised statement on the Judeo issue today because of his busy schedule. Mr Vajpayee had to meet the three new Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan who were in the Capital and had to attend a lunch hosted for the three CMs by BJP President Venkaiah Naidu.
Besides, the Prime Minister had to make preparation for the statement and was awaiting latest briefing points on the issue from the CBI and other agencies.
Earlier, during the zero hour today in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition created a ruckus after Mr Vajpayee deferred his statement on the Judeo episode.
Agitated Opposition members accused the Prime Minister of “not taking the House seriously which amounted to violating the sanctity of the august institution of the country.”
The Congress Chief Whip, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi took exception to the Prime Minister’s absence from the House and said the government seemed to be avoiding the Judeo episode.
Mr Somnath Chatterjee (CPM) and Mr Mani Shanker Aiyer (Cong) said Mr Vajpayee’s absence was infringement of the Speaker’s authority and norms of the House.
But the Speaker clarified that the Prime Minister had sought a written permission for postponing his statement in the House from today to tomorrow which he had granted.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said there was no question of government refusing to come out with the facts on the Judeo case and said Mr Vajpayee had to postpone his statement listed in the parliamentary proceedings following his unavoidable preoccupation.
She argued that there was nothing unusual about it as there were a number of precedents when a Prime Minister had to change his scheduled presence in the
House.
