The Congress party would have ma-de a telling point had it threatened to boycott Atal Behari Vajpayee's swe-aring-in ceremony on the grounds that he was taking L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Jo-shi and Uma Bharati, chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case, in his minis-try.The party woke up three years too late.Legally, the chargesheeted ministers need not step down till they are convicted. But propriety, and this makes for accountability in a democracy, is a different matter altogether.As for the norms of the Mahatma Gan-dhi era, they seems a distant dream. Gand-hi had even asked Kasturba to fast for a day to save three paise when there was a disc-repancy of this amount in the ashram accounts.In Nehru's time, K.D. Malaviya and T.T. Krishnamachari put in their papers when indicted by a commission of inquiry. Malaviya admitted that he had asked a businessman to give Rs 10,000 to a party worker.Things changed during Indira Gandhi's time. She had reinstalled both Malaviya and TTK soon after shecame to power. She became prime minister even when she was charged in the famous jeep scandal after the Emergency. It is an irony that the BJP, the most strident critic of the manner in which she flouted norms and destroyed institutions, should be citing her as a precedent to follow.As recently as four years ago, P.V. Na-rasimha Rao got rid of as many as nine cabinet ministers in the havala and other cases. Whatever be the politics of havala, these were big names like V.C. Shukla, Madhavrao Scindia, Balram Jakhar, Kalpn-ath Rai, Sheila Kaul and Shankaranand, an old friend of Rao. Rao even compelled governors Motilal Vora and Shiv Shankar to resign me-rely because the CBI wanted to interrogate them and they were the representatives of the President. Rao himself quit when named in the JMM and Lakubhai Pathak cases, and did so even before he was chargesheeted.Atal Behari Vajpayee too sent Buta Singh, Madan Lal Khurana and Mutha-iah packing because they had been ch-argesheeted.The Prime Minister hasrefused to accept the offer of resignation by his colleagues by making a distinction between political cases and cases of corruption and misuse of office. Morarji Desai had withdrawn the case against George Fernandes in the famous Baroda Dynamite case wh-en Fernandes was made minister in 1977. A political case makes it even more incumbent on the accused to take full responsibility for his actions, including the violation of the law.The crux of the matter is that Advani he-ads a ministry which is in a position to influence the inquiry. Technically, the CBI may be under the Prime Mi-nister's charge, but the transfers, postings, rew-ards and punishments of police officers are ha-ndled by the Home Mi-nistry. Even if Advani does not influence the course of the inquiry, perceptions are equally important. Everyone knows how much the autonomy of the institutions has been eroded over the years.Advani is today at a crossroads. To quit or not to quit? That will decide his future politics. Sticking on to the`kursi' does not do much for someone who has seen himself as a stickler for norms. Though he is the natural successor to Vajpayee, there has been growing ambivalence about his number two position. George Fernandes has em-erged as the Prime Minister's troublesho-oter. Others, like Jaswant Singh and Yash-want Sinha, both of whom have managed their ministries well, are getting positioned as leaders who could be acceptable to the BJP and the allies in the future. The Prime Minister launched another future leader by giving Arun Jaitley the additional cha-rge of disinvestment which requires transparent handling. From the allies' side, Ch-andrababu Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan and George Fernandes are also getting ready.Resignation could endear Advani to the hardcore base of the party which is cha-fing at the dilution of the Hindutva agenda, and it could help him re-emerge as the le-ader of the BJP, particularly if he latches on to other emotive issues like conversions. This could sharpen the cleavage inside theNDA and make the going really difficult for Vajpayee. As it is, Kalyan Singh is on the offensive. Like it or not,there has been a Hinduisation of the Indian psyche in the last ten years.The trouble however is that even in the best case scenario, the BJP cannot get mo-re than 220 seats and this too will be difficult after a couple of years of incumbency. The party has to depend on others for support, and these "others" are not likely to lu-mp the hawkish agenda of the saffron family. Politically, the safer course for Advani is to continue to cast himself in the Vajp-ayee mould, which he has done quite successfully in the last few months, and to remain in government.While the situation is a moral Catch-22 for Advani, it is a political Catch-22 for the Prime Minister. Allowing his colleague of 50 years to go could lead to a demoralisation in the party, send a signal that Vaj-payee is distancing himself from the Ay-odhya movement, on the basis of which the BJP gained its strength, and shake the very edificewhich he has built.The Prime Minister will try and defuse the situation as much as possible. His best bet may be to shift Advani to another hea-vyweight portfolio, even though that may prove to be a nightmarish exercise given the fine balance he has managed to strike in the Cabinet.
