The Hindu : N.D. Tiwari threatens to quit PAC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 21, 2002

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N.D. Tiwari threatens to quit PAC
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 20. Confronted with denial of documents relating to the controversial defence imports for the Kargil war, the chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Narain Dutt Tiwari, today threatened to resign and lodged a protest with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has headed the panel twice in the past.

Mr. Tiwari has resolved to take up the Defence Ministry's attitude and its Minister, George Fernandes' ``insulting behaviour'' with the Lok Sabha Speaker, G. M. C. Balayogi.

In another development, the Opposition members boycotted a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence in protest against Mr. Fernandes taking over as Defence Minister even while the Venkataswami Commission probe into the Tehelka scam is pending.

The PAC is understood to have prevailed upon Mr. Tiwari to refrain from putting in his papers. The Congress leader informed the PAC that he had met Mr. Vajpayee and sought his opinion on the situation created by the denial of documents to a committee comprising Parliamentarians.

Mr. Vajpayee, it is learnt, said that during his tenure as PAC chairman, though the Government had initially refused to hand over documents on two occasions, it had relented later.

Well-informed sources said not only had Mr. Fernandes been instrumental in refusing to hand over documents to the PAC but his remarks against the CAG were in ``bad taste.'' They recalled the occasion when the then Defence Minister, Krishna Menon, was directed by the Speaker in 1960 to withdraw his adverse comments against the Defence Audit Report. Menon had termed the report of the previous year ``a malicious-ever statement.'' He subsequently withdrew his observations.

The Congress trained its guns on Mr. Fernandes for his ``sweeping comment'' that certain sections were sabotaging the purchase of advanced jet trainers (AJT). ``If he blamed certain sections for the delay, he should indicate who those sections are. The Defence Minister of India cannot make a statement in the air,'' the Congress spokesperson, Jaipal Reddy, said.

The party was also critical of the coffin scam and alleged that Mr. Fernandes had ``sponsored'' a booklet justifying the deal. He had also declassified secret documents for the author of the pamphlet.

Asked whether the protest against Mr. Fernandes' re-induction would continue, Mr. Reddy said the boycott of the consultative committee was part of the process to protest the ``coronation of corruption.''

Members of the Congress, the Left, the Samajwadi Party and the RJD had also boycotted the previous consultative committee meeting in December on the same issue. The Opposition accounts for two-thirds of the committee's strength. The Congress termed the boycott as ``part of our strong continued political protest against his (Mr. Fernandes') immoral induction into the Cabinet.''

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