The Hindu : Green signal came from the top leadership?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 06, 2002

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National

Green signal came from the top leadership?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 5. The top Bharatiya Janata Party leadership may, in fact, have given the green signal about a year ago to the Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, to make every effort to benefit party workers, sympathisers, MLAs and MPs while allotting petrol pumps and gas agencies.

More than a year ago, BJP leaders, MPs and MLAs, had been complaining to the party high command, specifically to the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, that Mr. Naik was being "unhelpful'' in the matter of allotment of petrol pumps and gas/kerosene agencies.

In fact, matters came to a head when the former Uttar Pradesh unit president, Kalraj Mishra, met Mr. Advani to tell him that workers of "other parties'' had benefited from the petroleum largesse offered by Mr. Naik, and that the BJP workers, MLAs and others were disgruntled.

Following these complaints, Mr. Advani had summoned Mr. Naik and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Santosh Gangawar, to his office in Parliament House and reportedly asked them to set things right.

As a result, 11 chairmen of selection boards were suspended and the boards were re-constituted.

Party MPs said the senior party leadership knew that BJP sympathisers, well-wishers and their relatives and family members must be helped wherever possible.

All this were reported by the media.

A "foolproof" method was then formulated. Retired judges were to head many of the "independent'' selection boards, and in each geographical area, party MPs and other leaders were to recommend the lists of those who should be allotted (allegedly after deals were struck).

The lists were then passed on to the "independent'' selection committees and the allotments were made.

The paperwork was meticulous, no fault-lines.

Even today, after the cancellation of allotment of petrol pumps ordered by the Prime Minister, the party was insisting that the "allotments'' were quite "legal'' and that if some of the affected parties approached the courts, they might be able to stay the cancellations.

The party leadership does not agree that the allotment cancellation order was itself an admission of guilt.

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