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Journalism of Courage
Angered by the Election Commission’s refusal to dismiss the complaint against its MPs in the office-of-profit case, the CPM accused the Commission of playing into the BJP’s hands by not giving its leaders an opportunity to explain their position and adopting a position on the issue that was ‘‘less than transparent’’.
Quoting from a recent letter from Election Commission secretary K F Wilfred, the CPM’s former Rajya Sabha MP Nilotpal Basu said, ‘‘There is no iota of evidence against any of the MPs. But this man has the cheek to write to me (in his May 31 letter to Basu) that we have not been put to any inconvenience as no notice has been issued to me or other MPs. But, there is something called public honour.’’
Suggesting close contact between the BJP and the Commission, Basu said while there had been an office-of-profit complaint against the BJP’s Balbir Punj, it was closed when he retired as Rajya Sabha member. But Basu’s case persists even though he retired from the Rajya Sabha on April 2.
The complaint against CPM MPs filed by Trinamool Congress’s Mukul Roy also lists Basu’s name for allegedly running an NGO. Basu explained it was a private NGO that did not receive any Government grant and was set up under the Societies Act of which he was chairman, a non-executive post.
According to him, the other MPs named in Roy’s complaint also did not hold any executive post nor drew compensatory allowance more than MPs, which put them out of the purview of the office-of-profit rules. He accused the Commission of not setting a time-frame to decide on the complaint.
