The Prime Minister?s office once again finds itself in a political cesspool as the Opposition on Thursday launched a renewed onslaught on the ruling government challenging its submission before the Supreme Court on the appointment of the country?s graft watchdog as “untrue”.
Only months ago, Manmohan Singh had landed in the eye of storm over the 2G scam issue with the Supreme Court taking exception to the Prime Minister’s long “silence” on acting against former Telecom Minister Raja over spectrum allocation.
Thursday?s restocked offensive by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes as a fresh move to bring down the PM before the apex court again as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government battles a slew of corruption charges.
Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, fresh off her spat with the ruling parties over the Kashmir flag hoisting, Thursday vowed to file an affidavit to the Supreme Court proving the government claims as untrue, on the appointment of a tainted person as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner.
The BJP turned the heat on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, calling the submission of the government before the apex court as “completely untrue” and the buck stopping at the doorstep of the PM.
Swaraj, who was member of the panel that appointed tainted bureaucrat PJ Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), said she will challenge the government?s contention that it was unaware of corruption charges against Thomas.
Claiming that the government?s submission through Attorney General the BJP leader said, ?I personally brought this to the notice of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister…now I have decided to file an affidavit before the Supreme Court.?
“We were raising it inside and outside Parliament so far. But now I will be a part of it (in the Supreme Court),” she said, adding that “I am accusing the Attorney General of misleading the court”.
The opposition Left also hit out at the government.
“The entire thing is inexplicable,” said Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati earlier denied allegations of misleading the Court.
Swaraj and her party have been protesting the appointment of Thomas as the country?s senior-most officer in charge of fighting corruption because of the slew of graft charges against him in the past.
Being the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, she was a member of the three-member committee that appointed Thomas, along with Home Minister P Chidambaram, headed by the Prime Minister.
BJP spokesperson and senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government during the controversies never stated that they weren’t aware about the charges on Thomas which they said today in the Supreme Court.
He said his party colleague Sushma Swaraj had very clearly told the panel about the past cases on CVC and the issues stops at the door of the Prime Minister now.
Meanwhile, reports say that the government is expecting Thomas to step down before the storm gets any fiercer. With the Supreme Court placing the issue on a fast burner, the government is said to be hoping that the CVC will spare it further embarrassment and file in his resignation.
A SC bench, headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia, had earlier asked the government if the three-member panel, headed by the prime minister, was aware of the corruption case and prosecution sanction granted by Kerala government while appointing Thomas as the CVC.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati, appearing on behalf of the government, said that the government was not aware of these facts.
?It was not before the committee. The material pertaining to the sanction for prosecution under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code was not before the committee. The bio-data did not reflect this aspect before the committee,? Vahanvati said.
The apex court bench, also comprising justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swantanter Kumar, had said: ?We are not going into the merits of the case. We want to know whether the material pertaining to charge sheet and the sanction were brought before the committee or not.
?We want to know whether relevant material was brought before the committee and whether these documents were brought were before it.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had challenged Thomas? appointment as the CVC pointing to an oil import case against him, though Thomas has pleaded innocence in an affidavit before the Supreme Court.
In 1991-92, Thomas, as the Food Secretary in Kerala, had allegedly allowed the import of Palmolein or edible oil from Malaysia at prices higher than the market rate.
He also allegedly covered up the 2G Spectrum allocation scam as the Telecom Secretary.