The Hindu : Probe all allotments made since 1983: NDA MPs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 09, 2002

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Probe all allotments made since 1983: NDA MPs

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI AUG. 8. Even as the stalemate over the petrol pump allotment scam continued in Parliament today with both the Houses adjourning yet again within minutes, the Congress countered the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign by challenging the Government to order an enquiry into allotments of petrol pumps and agencies, if need be from 1983.

Although the Government has so far rejected the demand for an enquiry, it did gain some momentum today. A letter signed by 120 MPs of the ruling National Democratic Alliance was submitted to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, urging him to order an enquiry into all the allotments made under the Dealer Selection Board system since 1983 and cancel the dealerships allotted to a relative of a sitting or former MP/MLA and party functionary. Some senior BJP Ministers also conceded privately that the complete facts could be brought out only through an enquiry.

The Opposition charged the ruling party with shying away from an enquiry and resorting to "underhand methods" by pulling out "letters of recommendation'' by the Opposition party MPs, many of which had been written to help genuine cases such as those belonging to the category of the mentally handicapped and war widows. The BJP countered the accusation by daring the Congress to surrender all the allotments made to the relatives of its leaders and MPs.

Today's adjournment of both the Houses over the issue led some MPs in the Rajya Sabha to seek an adjournment till Monday, but the Chair did not oblige. And outside the House, the war of words between the BJP and the Congress continued.

To the list of 12 Opposition leaders, which the BJP produced on Wednesday, it added 25 more names of those — including some non-Congress members — who had sent in recommendations to the Union Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, for allotment of petrol pumps and agencies. The party also said it would counter the nationwide campaign which the Congress planned to launch on August 16 to "expose" the corrupt NDA Government, with one of its own.

Releasing the new set of letters of "recommendation'' along with a "Karnataka list" — which mentions the names of the relatives of many State Ministers, including those of the Chief Minister among the beneficiaries — the BJP spokesman, V. K. Malhotra, challenged the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to ask all her party members to surrender their allotments just as the Prime Minister had ordered the cancellation of allotments since 2000.

For its part, the Congress dismissed the charges against its MPs and described them as "dirty and diversionary ploy.'' Alleging that the BJP's counter-campaign was intended to obfuscate the issues involved, the Congress spokesman, S. Jaipal Reddy, reiterated his party's demand for a thorough enquiry, saying that "their (BJP) tactics strengthen our case for an enquiry.''

On the BJP contention that any enquiry into the allotment of petrol pumps/gas agencies should look into all the cases since 1983, the Congress said it had no quarrel with such a demand. "We are not shying away from any kind of enquiry. They are in the Government and it is for them to fix the terms of reference,'' Mr. Reddy said.

As for the allegations made against the Congress MPs, Mr. Reddy said that the party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh, had recommended the case of a widow. And the Rajya Sabha MP and AICC general secretary, Oscar Fernandes, who was present at the regular briefing, said that he had only taken up the case of an applicant who had not received any communication.

Underlining that none of those recommended by the MPs had got dealerships, Mr. Reddy sought to drive home the point that Mr. Naik did not respond to these letters; if only to tell the members that he was not concerned with the process of allotments.

Mr. Reddy reserved comment on the Karnataka list on the plea that it had been released only today and the Congress was yet to examine the charges.

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