Samata, BJP rally for legal action against Tehelka

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 24. The Samata Party kept up its efforts to capitalise on the disclosure of unethical means used by the Tehelka news portal to seek political relief for its beleaguered leaders, Mr. George Fernandes and Ms. Jaya Jaitly. The BJP, too, went along with the indignation of the Samata Party on some kind of action against the Tehelka group.

However, the expected meeting between Mr. Fernandes and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, did not come about. According to the sources, till late in the evening, there was no request to Mr. Vajpayee for an audience from Mr. Fernandes though the Prime Minister would have found time for his former Defence Minister had such a request come.

The expectation was that Mr. Fernandes would want to pressurise the Prime Minister to disband the Venkataswami Commission of Inquiry. On the other hand, it is believed that the BJP leadership has endorsed a decision to explore the possibility of legal prosecution, if tenable, against the Tehelka group.

Accordingly, in the next few days, two complaints are likely to be filed with the police against the Tehelka. So far, the decision is that one complaint should be filed in the name of Mr. Ravi Shanker Prasad, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, and another in the name of Mr. Raghunath Jha, president of the Bihar unit of the Samata Party.

It is believed that the option of unilateral action by the Union Home Ministry, as announced by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, would be tedious and time-consuming, whereas a clinical operation can be launched against the Tehelka if there is a complaint. The BJP leadership is going along with this because it wants to preempt the pressure from the Samata Party to restore Mr. Fernandes' honour even before he gets a clean chit, if at all, from the Venkataswami Commission.

The CPI(M) today took a strong objection to the ``clean chit'' given by Mr. Mahajan to Mr. Fernandes in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The CPI(M) Parliamentary party leader, Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, said at a press conference that Mr. Mahajan's statement at a time when the Venkataswami Commission was probing the Tehelka tapes was an attempt to whitewash even before the task was complete. ``This is a strange attitude,'' he said.

Accusing the Government of trying to ``brush it under the carpet and stifle discussion on defence deals,'' the CPI(M) promised to thwart such moves. Mr. Chatterjee said the point was that senior defence officials were indulging in such activities. The party said it would raise the issue and hoped that the Government would take proper action.

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