Chandra Shekhar slams Govt. for UTI muddle

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 21. The Government today appeared red faced in the Lok Sabha in the wake of a verbal onslaught launched against it by the former Prime Minister, Mr. Chandra Shekhar. In inimitable style, he accused the Government of functioning under pressure from, and at the directions of a particular industrial house and demanded a CBI inquiry to look into its role in the UTI affair.

The Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, in his reply refuted the charge but left the question of whether the Government had ordered or was planning to order a CBI inquiry into the issue, unanswered. Mr. Sinha limited himself to saying that the Government had set up a three-member committee to probe the details of all the UTI deals of the past 10 years and was waiting for its report before taking action. On the question of a CBI probe, Mr. Sinha in fact sought to deflect the blame on the previous Governments saying that when the CBI in December 1996 had sought permission for a probe into the alleged UTI deal with the industrial house, it had been denied permission by the Government of the day.

Raising the issue soon after lunch, Mr. Chandra Shekhar said an impression was gaining ground that a ``particular industrial house had a stranglehold over the Government and could get decisions taken in its favor and even ensure the transfer of important functionaries of the Finance Ministry without the Finance Minister's knowledge.''

Alleging that the industrial house had siphoned off funds to the tune off Rs. 1,070 crores, Mr. Chandra Shekhar said that he had written to the Prime Minister a month back but was yet to receive an acknowledgement leave alone a reply. He urged the Government to clarify whether a CBI inquiry had been ordered into the affair.

Mr. Chandra Shekhar said it was necessary that a CBI probe was ordered against the house, as ``the nation should not feel that Parliament and the entire Government machinery was under the control of this industrial house''. He threatened to come out with a document detailing the activities of the industrial house if the Government failed to order an inquiry.

Significantly both Mr. Chandra Shekhar and Mr. Sinha refrained from naming the industrial house in question but there was little doubt that there were both referring to the Reliance Industries Limited. In fact, Mr. Sinha was pointedly asked to name the Industrial house by Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann, a (SAD) member, but he declined.

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