House boils over on tainted ministers

On the very first day after the election of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, the Lok Sabha had to be adjourned on the issue of tainted ministers raised by Leader of Opposition LK Advani indicating a sign of the times to come.

Simultaneously, a day after Left leader Sitaram Yechuri virtually defended these ministers, CPI(M) politburo member and West Bengal unit secretary Anil Biswas today warned that Leftists would not condone any "wrongdoing" by the Manmohan Singh government.

"It would have been better if those against whom there was complaints were not included in the ministry," Biswas said in Kolkata.

In the Lok Sabha, Advani said the Prime Minister was a man with a clean image. But the Cabinet had disappointed many, including some of the parties in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

He said yesterday over 200 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members of Parliament had marched to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit a memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam against the inclusion of tainted persons in the Union council of ministers, Advani said.

Advani said while the Prime Minister had the prerogative to choose his ministers, never in the past had persons with criminal background been inducted in the government. This led to strong protests from the ruling benches despite repeated pleas by the chair to allow Advani to complete his brief statement.

It was an established convention that persons with criminal background should not be included in the Cabinet, Advani said.

"You (Manmohan Singh) are the 15th Prime Minister in independent India and so far no one has included such persons in their ministries," Advani said.

Chatterjee pulled up members for being disorderly. "Please do not force me to take action on the very first day. I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour," he repeatedly observed.

Amid pandemonium with Opposition members raising slogans "daagi mantri hatao, desh bachao (remove tainted ministers and save the country)" the Prime Minister introduced his ministerial colleagues.

Many Opposition members surged towards the well but they were prevented from entering it by their seniors. Angry Akali Dal members walked out of the House protesting the inclusion of "tainted persons" in the government.

As soon as the Prime Minister completed introducing the members of his ministry, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

"Now that we are supporting the government from outside does not mean that we will condone its wrong-doing, if any,"Biswas  said. The BJP had no moral right to campaign on the issue since, during the previous NDA regime, there were ministers against whom criminal cases were pending for demolition of Babri Masjid. They did not resign "despite our repeated demands", he added.

The members of the council of ministers introduced by the Prime Minister included the Leader of the House and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.