Corporate games

The interim report of the committee was tabled in Parliament last fortnight, laying down a code of conduct for MPs.

Although the members themselves may not admit it, polarisation among MPs is not always on political or ideological lines. The country has seen sharp differences in Parliament on issues like the Women8217;s Reservation Bill, Lok Pal, foreign equity in insurance, Uttaranchal and Vananchal, but the lobbying for or against corporatehouses has also assumed alarming proportions.

For instance, it is public knowledge that the Civil Aviation Ministry received memoranda from some 100-odd MPs opposing the Tata Airlines project earlier this year and this, probably, was one of the factors behind the project remaining grounded. Then MPs, cutting across party lines, openly took sides in the famous spat between Zee TV and Star TV over a Bill allowing Direct to Home DTH television.

Similarly, Union Minister for Urban Development Ram Jethmalani justifies his decision in MS Shoes case by citing letters written to his ministry by as many as 31 MPs 8212; including the present External Affairs Minister, Vasundhara Raje Scindia 8212; favouring Pawan Sachdeva of MS Shoes.

Some MPs, in fact, don8217;t seem to have any qualms about lobbying for individuals or industrial houses. The Samajwadi Party general secretary and a Rajya Sabha MP, Amar Singh, feels proud in associating himself with corporate giants like the Birlas, Sahara India and Amitabh BachchanCorporation Ltd ABCL.

Singh is believed to have clinched many a deal for his industrialist friends, including, reportedly, in the Tata Airlines case. If the project had taken off, Sahara Airlines, owned by his friend Subrato Roy, would have been hit.

Singh, however, says: 8220;You may call it lobbying or anything, but the fact is my intention is to see the welfare of the country. At a time when most of the private airlines were closing shop due to massive losses, was it prudent to bring in another private airline causing losses to our national carrier, the Indian Airlines?8221; In any case, he adds, he only took up the cause being already pleaded by Trinamool Congress and Telugu Desam Party MPs.

But Singh8217;s is not an isolated case. MPs are known to plead causes of industrial houses and even ailing public sector undertakings PSUs. For instance, almost all MPs from Kerala had written to the then prime minister I.K. Gujral defending the poor-quality condoms manufactured by Hindustan Latex Ltd. 8220;The orderif given to private sector,8221; the memorandum signed by some 24 MPs had said, 8220;will cause huge financial losses to HLL, making it perennially sick.8221;

Now, a more sinister form of lobbying has emerged, in which corporate houses target top leaders of a political party, preferably a senior minister in the Government, with the ability to carry some MPs with him. 8220;I know some cases in which ministers enlisted the support of MPs in favour of a decision already taken by them,8221; says an MP of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha.8220;It8217;s simple,8221; explains a veteran Congress leader. 8220;Small industrial houses catch individual MPs while corporate giants get hold of party leaders. An MP as such has little influence in the Government while party leaders wield considerable clout.8221; Singh too admits that MPs are being used by a powerful coterie of politicians and corporate houses.

Film star-turned-politician Raj Babbar feels issue-based lobbying by MPs is okay because that is their essential role, but that it is 8220;unethicalif guided by vested interests8221;.

Babbar cites his own example. He recalls that in 1994, as the then parliamentary affairs minister VC Shukla was about to table a Bill in the Rajya Sabha to renew the Terrorist and Disruptive Practices Prevention Act TADA on a Friday afternoon, he noticed that the Opposition was not present in full strength. So, Babbar complained to the presiding officer that the draft bill was only in English, which he was unable to understand, and demanded a Hindi translation. He thus succeeded in getting the Bill postponed till Monday.

8220;During the next two days 8212; Saturday and Sunday,8221; he says, 8220;I contacted some 125 MPs, mobilised them against the TADA, making the Government apprehensive. The Act could not be renewed and lapsed.8221; The Act, in fact, has not been renewed till date.

Gurudas Dasgupta too differentiates between campaigning for issues and lobbying, which he says are completely different. In fact, in countries like the US , lobbying is officially allowed. But in adeveloping country like India, it can become a breeding ground for corruption. Another member of the RS Ethics Committee, Jayant Malhoutra, says it is precisely to check this that the panel has been set up.

Forming bloc for bargaining power

Jayant Malhoutra recalls receiving a call from Ratan Tata, a friend of his, asking him why he was opposed to the Tata Airlines project around the time the controversy was on. 8220;No, I am not,8221; Malhoutra had replied. Tata had immediately faxed him a memorandum signed by some 81 MPs, including Malhoutra, urging Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee not to give a licence to Tata Airlines because it would cause financial losses to Indian Airlines.

8220;I myself was surprised,8221; says Malhoutra, 8220;because I did not remember having signed any memorandum against the Tatas.8221;

At the time, he corrected the goof-up by writing a separate letter to the Prime Minister, this time favouring the Tata Airlines project. 8220;The airline sector was growing fast and introduction ofanother new airline won8217;t affect IA, which can and will prosper in this context,8221; the letter signed by Malhoutra and three other members of his United Parliamentary Group on August 28 this year said.

Malhoutra admits the earlier memorandum must have been one of the dozens circulated by various MPs in support of one or the other issue. 8220;If I don8217;t sign their memorandum, they too will refuse to sign my letter,8221; he says.It is probably because of such bargaining power that 61 MPs who are either Independent, unattached or belong to smaller parties have formed a United Parliamentary Group in the Rajya Sabha under the leadership of Malhoutra. 8220;By forming the group, we have ensured the presence of one of our members on the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha. Besides, we usually take a decision on issues by consensus and vote en bloc,8221; says former Union minister and a member, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia.