Some Congress leaders suspected yesterday that the Narasimha Rao-Deve Gowda axis was trying to embarrass Congress president Sitaram Kesri and Sonia Gandhi, the partys current power centres, through reports that have recently been submitted to the government on the Bofors and the Tanwar murder probes.
Most Congress leaders seemed sure that Prime Minister IK Gujral was not involved in causing the reports or the leaks on their contents to the press. They pointed instead to senior officials, including Central Bureau of Investigation director Joginder Singh.
Rao appears to have moved closer to the BJP in recent weeks. In any case, having run the government between them for almost all of the last six years, Rao and Gowda command the loyalty of some key officials, including some in the central investigating agencies.
Singhs recent report to the Cabinet Secretary on the Bofors probe names Rajiv Gandhi as a prime mover of the controversy, but does so in a roundabout manner, according to a senior official.
Sonia Gandhis aides had previously dismissed speculation about the impact of the Bofors investigation on her political career. They held that the closest connection to emerge was the name of Ottavio Quattrocchi as a recipient of kickbacks. Nobody could prove he had received the money for the Gandhi family, they said. As for his proximity to the family, many others had access, they pointed out.
If Rajiv Gandhi is named as the primary suspect, albeit on the basis of vague and circumstantial evidence, they might find it more difficult to deal with the political fallout.
A strategist of the Rao camp suggested that the manipulation of these inquiries and their reports could set the stage for Rao to cut a deal with Sonia Gandhi so that they could help each other out of the various investigations they were embroiled in.
The report on the SK Tanwar murder in 1993 does not name Kesri but suggests that former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharmas involvement needs to be probed. That could lead to senior leaders names tumbling out of the closet.
Kesri was questioned in connection with the murder just a few days before he suddenly withdrew the Congress support to the Gowda government. A Special Investigation Team was set up before Gowda demitted office. It will therefore be difficult to close the investigation or even move slowly on it. Congress leaders were agog yesterday over the publication of two reports in The Indian Express, one on the CBI report on the Bofors investigation and the other on a Delhi Police report to the Home Ministry on the Tanwar murder probe.
Predictably, even some MPs who had been close to Kesri until last week were more eager that no allegation should stick to Sonia Gandhi. Since she took primary membership of the party recently, she has become the great white hope of many party leaders and workers. They think she is their best bet as a vote-catcher.
Govt considering Bofors report: cabinet secretary
Press Trust of India NEW DELHI
The government is examining the report on the Bofors gun deal pay-off case which was submitted by the CBI on Tuesday, cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, said yesterday. Subramaniam told reporters at the Delhi airport shortly before the arrival of Prime Minister I K Gujral, after attending the Saarc summit in Male, that he had received the papers and we are looking into it. Meanwhile, CBI director Joginder Singh said the report had been submitted but refused to state anything further. What passes between me and the government is confidential, Singh said when approached by newsmen outside the CBI headquarters here. Asked whether the CBI would make any fresh efforts to bring back Italian businessman, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the CBI director quipped wait and see.
Privelege motion notice against
CBI director
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
Congress member Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi yesterday gave notice for a privilege motion against CBI director Joginder Singh, in the Lok Sabha for selectively leaking information about investigations into the Bofors payoffs and charged the agency with witch-hunting and maligning late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Raising the issue of breach of privilege during zero hour, the member said the CBI director had purposely leaked out information to a newspaper which reported yesterday that Rajiv Gandhi was being named as accused in the Bofors payoffs case.
The newspaper had quoted a top secret draft chargesheet prepared by the special investigating team of the CBI that went into the documents received from Switzerland.
The draft chargesheet had allegedly charged Rajiv Gandhi with conspiracy to enable Italian businessman Quattarochi and Win Chaddha among others to benefit from the kickbacks but admitted failure to prove that the former Prime Minister himself had benefitted from the payoffs.
Members, who participated in a brief impromptu discussion that followed, critcised the manner in which the CBI was handling the affair and demanded a comprehensive statement on the latest position on Bofors investigations.
