Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, November 29: A showdown between the Congress and the Government appears inevitable after both Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani cited the Attorney General's opinion to state that Rajiv Gandhi's name cannot be deleted from the CBI's Bofors chargesheet.
Rejected by the Government, the Congress turned to President K R Narayanan. Senior leader Manmohan Singh submitted a memorandum signed by 12 CWC members to Narayanan this evening asking him to prevail upon the government to get the name deleted.
In the Rajya Sabha, Congress leaders walked out even as Advani tabled the AG's report in the Lok Sabha. Any direction from the Government to delete Rajiv's name from the Bofors chargesheet will amount to interference in the investigation and prosecution of the case and will be impermissible in law, Advani told the Lok Sabha.
Congress chief whip in the House Priya Ranjan Das Munshi reminded Advani of his ``promise''--made on the last day of the last Lok Sabha session--to takeappropriate action on deletion of Rajiv's name.
But Advani's rejection left the Congress groping for a response. While a section of MPs, led by former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, wanted to walk out as a mark of protest, former Union Minister Rajesh Pilot was seen persuading them against this course of action. In the confusion, Speaker G M C Balayogi adjourned the proceedings for lunch.
Advani said the AG's opinion was sought on two issues: whether it is permissible for the government to accept the demand for deletion of Rajiv's name and whether the government should initiate any action or proceedings under Section 321 (empowering Government to withdraw prosecution) of the CrPC.
``In my opinion, Section 321 does not come into the picture because no charge has been framed nor has any prosecution been launched against Rajiv Gandhi,'' the AG has reportedly said. ``Having regard to well-settled legal position, as declared by the Supreme Court, it would not be open to the Government to direct or seekfrom the investigating agency deletion of the name of one of the accused named in column two.''
This brought the Congressmen up on their feet again. ``Rajiv Gandhi is not an accused. His name is not there in the FIR,'' they shouted.
In the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh raised the issue through a special mention alleging that Rajiv's name was included in the Bofors chargesheet to malign him and the Congress party though there was no evidence against him. His name had been listed with a malafide intention and there was a political conspiracy behind it, he claimed.
The Congress party itself wanted that the guilty be punished but here the name had been included of one who could not defend himself as he was not alive, Singh said.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------