Sinha vows to go if Guruswamy charges stick

NEW DELHI, MAR 5: Finance minister Yashwant Sinha offered to resign on Friday if allegations levelled by his former advisor Mohan Guruswa...

NEW DELHI, MAR 5: Finance minister Yashwant Sinha offered to resign on Friday if allegations levelled by his former advisor Mohan Guruswamy were proved correct.

Sinha made the offer in the Lok Sabha when the opposition demanded that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) be set up to probe the charges made by Guruswamy that ministers were lobbying for industrial houses and crores of public money had been siphoned off.

Sinha said the Government had nothing to hide and was prepared for a full-fledged discussion on the issue. Speaker GMC Balayogi said the Business Advisory Committee of the House would take a decision on when to hold a discussion on the subject.

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Raising the issue during zero hour, deputy leader of Congress P Shiv Shankar said Guruswamy’s charges were serious as he had alleged that the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, home minister LK Advani and information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan had lobbied for certain industrial houses with a view to influencing Government decisions.

Guruswamy had alleged that the Centre had allowed Rs 5,000 crore to be siphoned off as a result of its decision on steel prices, Shankar said.

He was supported by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. Gowda wanted to know the floor price for steel and alleged that Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s decision in this regard had led to siphoning of Rs 1,000 crore of public money in two months. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav also supported the demand.

The finance minister dismissed Guruswamy’s charges as "frustrations of a man who has been sacked" and said "the allegations are absolutely without any foundation. If even a part of any of the charge is proved I am ready to resign,".

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Describing Guruswamy’s allegation regarding UTI move to sell ITC shares to British American Tobacco at lower rates as "figment of imagination", Sinha said neither the trust had received any such proposal from BAT nor was any step taken to transfer ITC shares to it.

As regards steel prices, Sinha said it was common knowledge that the steel industry had gone through lot of problems owing to a crash in international prices.

Sinha disputed Guruswamy’s claim that he had resigned on January 27 as he was abroad on an official tour to attend a roadshow by Videsh Sanchar Nigam on January 31.