Gowda’s remarks in LS against Lt Gen Mehta to be expunged

Balayogi’s personal secretary V R Ramesh confirmed that certain remarks had been expunged but conceded that not all references to Lt Gen. Mehta had been removed. When asked to comment on the expunging of his remarks, former prime minister Deve Gowda said: “I wanted the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe all the allegations that I made. But what is the pointsince the House has been dissolved. I do not want to say anything to hurt the feelings of the Speaker but if he has expunged them he is right.” During the confidence motion debate on April 16, Deve Gowda while talking of the T-90 tank deal had claimed that Lt Gen Mehta during his stint as the Military Assistant to the then Chief of Army Staff General K. Sundarji had altered his dossier misusing his position. Gowda had said that Mehta had removed the three-month loss of seniority which was awarded to him for the death of a service person in an accident. There was a furore in Army Headquarters the next day and the Chief of Army Staff General Ved Prakash Mehta registered his protest with both Fernandes and the President. The President, however, said that Parliament was supreme.

However, not all remarks made by Deve Gowda against Lt Gen Mehta have been expunged. The following lines, for instance, will remain: “…The person who went to Moscow — Gen S S Mehta — is the chairman of the Price NegotiationCommittee. During the last 50 years, the chairman of the Price Negotiation Committee was a civilian officer. Why was the procedure changed? Why is he changed? That particular officer was cooperating with the Ministry of Defence.”