JPC not to probe Judeo case: PM

Nothing common between the Judeo and Jogi bribery charges: Vajpayee

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today rejected the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Dilip Singh Judeo cash-on-camera scam because the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was already investigating it and would be the only source of information even for the JPC if it was set up.

He compared the Judeo and Ajit Jogi bribery cases to demonstrate that the two had nothing in common.

He criticised the Opposition for not having faith in the CBI and attempting to politicise it. He was replying to a two-day debate on his statement on the resignation of Dilip Singh Judeo as Union minister.

Brushing aside the Opposition charge that the government was adopting double standards while dealing with the cases of Judeo and those against former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, the prime minister said truth would eventually come out.

"What double standards are you talking about, what touchstones are you talking about? Do not you see Jogi peeping from behind the curtain (in both cases)," he said, adding there had been absolutely no delay in instituting the Judeo probe.

Rejecting the charge by CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee that by making him a mascot in the Assembly polls he had legitimised corruption, Vajpayee said he had not done so but the results had proved that the people had still faith in Judeo.

"We got a landslide victory in Chhattisgarh because people have lost faith in you (Congress) and have some left in Judeo," he said, adding Judeo would not be reinstated till he was exonerated in the probe.

Vajpayee warned that trends before and the after the elections indicated all was not well with India and leaders had to ponder some issues which everyone was aware of.

"Cannot we fight elections while observing decorum and dignity? It is possible," he said, remarking "we expect more from those in the Congress who understand this".

To a query from Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong), he said Jogi was "playing openly" and the money paid was in the custody of the police. On the other hand, who gave the money in the Judeo case was yet to be ascertained.

Vajpayee recalled that as the chief minister, Jogi had written to him about "a conspiracy" hatched by intelligence agencies to defame Congress leaders.

The document submitted by him turned out to be fake. But instead of waiting for his reply or talking to him or Sonia Gandhi, Jogi called a press conference in the central Congress office for propaganda purposes, Vajpayee said.

On the Judeo episode, he said one cassette was received and the CBI registered a preliminary enquiry to find out from where it came and who was behind it. But nobody lodged a complaint.

Vajpayee said the allegations against Judeo were first published by The Indian Express. When the newspaper was asked from where it got this information, it stated it did not know where the tape came from, he said.

The newspaper probably did not want to state where it came from, Vajpayee said. If a newspaper published a story without knowing its antecedents, "this is a serious allegation," he said but added he did not want to level it .

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition was more aggressive. Congress member Kapil Sibal laun-ched a scathing attack on the government and charged that while the government filed an FIR against Jogi within five days of the incident, there had been no movement in the Judeo case, which took place much earlier.

"In the case of Jogi, the appropriate action is FIR, in the case of Judeo, it is preliminary enquiry and in the case of Tehelka, neither preliminary enquiry nor FIR," Sibal said. This was nothing but "double standards", he added.

Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M) said journalists and financiers involved in the Tehelka sting operation were being "hounded" and the CBI had not filed a chargesheet even two-and-a-half years after the incident.

Vajpayee had once said his government was for zero tolerance in corruption, Sibal said adding the Prime Minister, by his action in Judeo episode, had "embraced" corruption.

"Now there is 100 per cent tolerance to corruption". "We did not expect this from the Prime Minister who is considered to be a colossus in the eyes of the public," he said.

Two BJP leaders had reportedly claimed that trap for Jogi was laid under the direction of the Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley. If that was so, why had no FIR had been filed against Advani and Jaitley, Sibal wondered.