Kamal Nath wants JPC on Bhagwat sacking

NEW DELHI, MARCH 11: Senior Congress MP Kamal Nath strongly pleaded in Lok Sabha yesterday that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) be ...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 11: Senior Congress MP Kamal Nath strongly pleaded in Lok Sabha yesterday that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) be appointed to probe the charges of corruption in defence deals and also about the manner of sacking Chief of Naval Staff Vishnu Bhagwat.

Amid continuous interruption by members of the BJP and the Samata Party in the House, Kamal Nath said, “There is only one objective appearing in this matter (sacking) and that is how to have a compliant bureaucracy and compliant officers in the armed forces. Whether it is aircraft carriers or frigates, submarines or torpedoes or missiles, the whole matter is reeking of corruption.”

Kamal Nath, who was fielded by the Congress to raise the issue of corruption in defence deals and the sacking of Bhagwat, said he was not questioning the civilian supremacy. But how could charges of corruption levelled by a former Navy Chief and other allegations by a former Air Chief be ignored.

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Kamal Nath said the dismissal had a definite nexus with thearms lobby and kickbacks. “This is the main reason for the kickbacks. But now it is sought to be shrouded and clouded with other reasons,” he added.

It now transpires that while some of the senior party leaders were going soft on the issue, Kamal Nath, P J Kurien, Ajit Jogi, P Shiv Shanker, B S Hooda and others strongly pleaded with Sonia Gandhi at the Political Affairs Committee of the party that the opportunity should not be lost to expose the government on the corruption issue.

Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh, who had been briefed by the Prime Minister on the Bhagwat issue, had been of the view that it should not be raised in the House.