GoM to probe NDA 'scams' divides Cong

Orders were issued just before PM left for US visit

The announcement of the setting up of the group of ministers (GoM) to probe scams that had occurred during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime came as a surprise to many in the Congress and in the government.

According to sources, the party had, by giving a clean chit to the NDA government on the AK-47 deal issue, decided not to pursue a vengeful attitude towards their predecessors. The lessons of the Shah Commission, set up to probe excesses during the Emergency, were very much on the party's mind.

A significant section in the party, which includes two prominent ministers, was, however, upset that scams which had been highlighted by the party during the election were being ignored.

"Actually, it was after July 14, when Home Minister Shivraj Patil gave a clean chit to LK Advani on the AK-47 issue in reply to a question raised by Amar Singh (Samajwadi Party) in the Rajya Sabha, that the seeds of the GoM were planted," said a senior Congress office-bearer.

"Leaders and in particular one Union minister who had raised this issue prominently during the polls felt indignant, as though it was a comment on the issue itself," said the leader.

The matter was raised before the Congress high command repeatedly after that. "It was sought to be projected that a certain section of the government was soft on the previous NDA regime," the leader said.

The clamour for it was gradual, building up during the two sessions of Parliament where the proceedings were boycotted by the Opposition and the government was pushed into a corner on issues of tainted ministers and the Chiruddih massacre case that led to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren's exit from the Cabinet.

"This is when the government was most defensive and the idea of a GoM to probe the scams came up," said the leader. The orders to set up the GoM were issued just before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for his trip to the US.

When Congress spokes-person Jayanti Natarajan was today asked for the party's reaction to the setting up of such a GoM when at least two Union ministers from the UPA government had cleared their NDA predecessors of any wrongdoing, withholding comment on any specific ministries "" defence or home "" Natarajan said the party was pleased that the government had made such a move.

"The Congress had prepared a chargesheet in which we had highlighted corruption in various ministries during the NDA regime. It is only fitting that where the ministries find evidence of this corruption, they should take action," Natarajan said.

"We are against corruption and for transparency and accountability, so this move has the full acceptance of the party," she said, adding "if the BJP had nothing to fear it would welcome the probe".

Natarajan counted as some of the NDA "scams", the issue of the Kargil cess that was diverted, the purchase of munitions after the Kargil war had ceased and the purchase of defective ammunition. All the three cases relate to the defence ministry headed by Pranab Mukherjee who, at his first press conference said he did "not believe in the politics of vendetta".

The setting up of the GoM represents the emergence of a new ginger group in the Congress that would like the government to show itself as being more aggressive in countering the BJP. There is another view in the party that believes this effort will only lead to the consolidation of the BJP.