NARASIMHA Rao is getting no respite. Financial scandal after scandal in which either he or his close relatives or loyalists swearing personal allegiance are being unearthed almost every week. Sukh Ram falls into the last category—a minister hand-picked by Rao and one he passionately defended in Parliament and outside when the Opposition and the press attacked him for rampant corruption.
Rao acted swiftly for once and suspended Sukh Ram but he did try—albeit feebly—to resist the move. Till party treasurer Sitaram Kesri and general secretary Devendra Dwivedi warned that a delay would bracket him with the corrupt and corruption. And that it would further damage the party's image—dissident leaders, including Rajesh Pilot, were already making noises, demanding Sukh Ram's arrest.
With the Sukh Ram episode, not only is Rao in a spot but the Congress Party's image has taken a severe beating. After all, it was during Rao's tenure as prime minister that the Congress had vehemently defended the communications minister on the telecom contracts. And Sukh Ram had told Opposition leaders that Rao was in the know of all his deals.
What really rattled Rao is the CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Ashoke Mitra's demand—later echoed by the BJP—that all tele-com contracts during Sukh Ram's three-year tenure be scrapped and reviewed.
A move which would embarrass Rao no end. Sukh Ram's suspension is a technicality, but he, like other ministers in charge of the infrastructural ministries, were believed to be key fund-raisers for the party. And the PMO always had a say on award of major contracts involving any ministry. Says Tariq Anwar, MP and chairman of the AICC minority cell: "Our image has suffered. Inefficiency and corruption together at higher places have demoralised our workers in an unprecedented manner."
Aware that even the United Front Government, which needs Congress support to survive, will not be able to come to his rescue, Rao has been advised by the party to declare in Parliament that he was "all for a detailed investigation into the case".
The UF's Communication Minister Beni Prasad Varma was so startled at the scale of irregularity by the previous government in the telecom sector that he went to Mulayam Singh Yadav—both belong to the Samajwadi Party (SP)—who in turn went straight to Prime Minister Deve Gowda, demanding a CBI probe.
Yadav's contention was that if the telecom scandal got leaked to the press on the eve of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the SP, a major contender for power, would be seen as shielding corruption. Also, this was an ideal opportunity to nail Congress on corruption charges as the party has struck a deal with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) against the SP in Uttar Pradesh. The prime minister immediately okayed the CBI probe.
Gowda could not have done otherwise in the circumstances. But the CBI action—time gap between raids in Delhi and Mandi, and the absence of serious attempts to track down Sukh Ram in the UK or the US either by approaching Interpol or the respective governments there—only indicates that the Government was acting more out of compulsion than a commitment against corruption. But the Government's apparent softness may not bail out Rao given his proximity to Sukh Ram—the Congress president had unsuccessfully tried to instal Sukh Ram as Himachal chief minister but Virbhadra Singh vetoed it in March 1995—and the Hyderabad connection of some of the telecom deals.
Rao tried to make amends by calling a meeting of senior leader to discuss the post-CBI raids scenario and find ways to overcome the loss of face for the Congress party. But this is unlikely to solve matters—especially if Sukh Ram gets talking once he is taken into custody.
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