Calling the Judeo and Jogi cases a ‘‘disgrace’’ and ‘‘black spots’’, a visibly upset Prime Minister today tried to take a bitter debate to a higher plane when he urged all parties to rise above politics and ponder on ‘‘what’s happening in the country’’ and the direction politics seemed headed for. Without naming Dilip Singh Judeo or Ajit Jogi, Vajpayee said ‘‘leaders of two political parties’’ stand ‘‘accused’’ before the people and ‘‘I cannot express in words how upset I am.’’ He was replying to a Rajya Sabha discussion on the resignation of Judeo from the Central government. ‘‘What is happening in the country, in which direction are we going? Please do not take it in terms of Government versus Opposition. I have a political career spanning 40 years and nobody can ever point an accusing finger at me for financial irregularities.’’ ‘‘I am Prime Minister because of the blessing of the people. But now it is highly unpleasant for me to see that leaders of two political parties are being accused and I have to stand here to defend them.’’ ‘‘How long will the the country depend on capitalists to fight elections? Will the elections continue getting more expensive?’’ Observing that he was a ‘‘bit happy’’ since BJP had won the Assembly elections in three states, the Prime Minister said at the same time he was agitated over what had happened and wanted to share his feelings with the House. ‘‘The world is looking at Indian democracy and say that it is doing well. But I know such incidents are weakening it from within,’’ he said in his 25-minute reply. Describing as unfortunate the fact that he had to refer to such cases of alleged corruption in the House, Vajpayee wondered how young people in the country would react to such accusations of corruption. Responding to Congress leader Arjun Singh’s charge that the Jogi episode was stagemanaged by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Vajpayee said: ‘‘There is no truth in it. The charge is baseless and, if necessary, the CBI will investigate this aspect as well’’. Rejecting the Opposition charge that the Government had ‘‘double-standards’’ in dealing with Jogi and Judeo cases, the Prime Minister said the two cases were‘‘totally different’’ and were being probed by the CBI. In the Jogi case, an FIR was lodged by BJP MLA Virendra Pandey in Raipur police station and Rs 45 lakh he had received for splitting the party, besides the former Chief Minister’s letter, were part of investigation records, he said. But in the Judeo case, an FIR has still not been lodged as it was yet to be ascertained who was the person in the VCD alleged to have given the money, he said, observing that the voices in the VCD were ‘‘not clear’’. Defending the CBI, Vajpayee said that even when his party was in the Opposition, it trusted the agency’s work. The Prime Minister said that the Judeo VCD had been sent for forensic examination to establish its authenticity and the report was expected soon.
