House to debate Bhagwat charges

The government’s nod to the debates came at a meeting of leaders of various parties in the Lok Sabha convened by Speaker G M C Balayogi this afternoon. This meeting also decided that a committee of senior leaders of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha would be constituted to study all the files relating to the sacking of the Navy chief and decide whether a debate could be held on the floor of the two Houses and the form in which it should be held.

Both the debates will be held under Rule 193 which does notinvolve voting. The leaders’ meeting was attended by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar, former prime ministers Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral, Left leaders Indrajit Gupta and Somnath Chatterjee and former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, among others.

If the leaders’ committee decides before March 17 that a debate can be held on the floor of Parliament, it will be taken up together with the debate on the charges of corruption in defence deals. The terms of reference for this committee will be drawn up by the Speaker in consultation with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

The joint committee is likely to be composed of 10 members from the Lok Sabha and five from the Rajya Sabha. Vajpayee, Advani, Pawar, the three former prime ministers, Somnath Chatterjee, Indrajit Gupta and Mulayam Singh Yadav are expected to be on the committee from the lower House.

“All information includingsensitive files would be made available to the committee,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister R Kumaramangalam.

Though the Opposition leaders seemed satisfied with the decisions taken at the meeting with the Speaker, they reiterated their demand for the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee to go into the issues raised. The meeting, chaired by the Speaker, followed a good deal of acrimony in both Houses where a combined Opposition once again pressed for a debate on the two issues in the face of noisy resistance from the BJP-led coalition.

At the meeting, both Vajpayee and Advani initially took the line that there was no prima facie evidence to prove any of the charges in both the cases to warrant a debate on the floor of Parliament. Congress leaders P Shivshanker and Kurien reminded the government that the Rajiv Gandhi government had agreed to the demand for a JPC even when there was no direct evidence to prove the Bofors charges.

Gowda referred to the purchase of T-90 series tanks bythe Army, while S Muthiah, a member of the AIADMK — a BJP ally — also supported the Opposition demand for a debate on corruption.

While the Government finally conceded that it was willing to have a debate on these charges, it argued that the issue of the sacking of the naval chief was too sensitive a matter to be discussed on the floor of the House.

The Government got some help from Chandra Shekhar who reiterated the suggestion he made in the Lok Sabha that a small committee of leaders could go into the issue instead of debating it in the House. Taking the cue, Advani persuaded the Opposition leaders to agree to the constitution of a committee which could first examine the files and then decide whether a House debate could be allowed.

Fernandes explained the reasons which necessitated the dismissal of the naval chief and said he had no objection to a debate on the alleged corruption in defence deals.

His Samata Party colleague Digvijay Singh said that since the files relating to the naval chief’sdismissal were classified, the leaders could study them and decide for themselves.