Congress president Sitaram Kesari yesterday despatched a three-pronged weapon in the shape of a letter to Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, alleging that Gowdas predecessor, P V Narasimha Rao, had withheld information from the Jain Commission, which is probing the conspiracies that could have been behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
The letter seemed to be calculated to further destroy Rao within the Congress, put fresh pressure on Gowda, and to please Rajivs widow, Sonia Gandhi, who can help Kesari to maintain a grip over his party and such offshoots of it as the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC).
Rao is to face the Jain Commissions queries later this month. There has been speculation that the commission could indict him over the allegation, made by others, including Arjun Singh, that he withheld information from the commission and did not cooperate with it when he was the Prime Minister.
The Rao government, of which Kesari was a member throughout its five-year tenure, had decided not to send information pertaining to the period before 1986 to the commission, primarily because it would expose the monetary and other help given to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the governments headed by Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.
Rao had appointed the current finance minister, P Chidambaram, to coordinate the governments dealings with the commission.
As a member of the Rao-led council of ministers, Chidambaram had earlier been vocal in demanding full assistance to the commission. Once he was put in charge of sifting documents, Chidambaram became defensive when facing questions in Parliament.
In his letter, dated January 10 and made public by the All-India Congress Committee yesterday, Kesari has asked Gowda to ensure that all the facts denied to the commission were immediately made available to it and that a six-month extension beyond February 28 be given to it.
The letter said that the inordinate delay in the completion of the commissions task has created serious misgivings about the attitude and approach of the previous government to this sensitive matter.
Appreciating the front governments positive approach towards the problems being faced by the commission, Kesari pleaded for appropriate and prompt action on his request for passing on all the information to the commission without any more delay.
Recalling the circumstances under which the commission was constituted, Kesari said, It is a matter of record that in the last five years, due to various reasons which have been articulated by the chairman of the commission himself, it could not complete its task in the manner it wanted.
The Congress president said that the AICC counsel at the Jain Commissions hearings had told him that the commissions proceedings were now reaching a very decisive stage and certain specific steps will have to be taken to enable the commission to conclude its work in a just and expeditious manner.
It will be essential according to him (the counsel) that all the information so far withheld on various counts be made available to the commission immediately. I fully concur with this view of our counsel, he said.
Kesari enclosed a list identifying and highlighting the issues and the information that have to be supplied to the commission.
