UPA orders fresh probe into NDA’s coffin deal

Others who make the panel are HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal. Its first meeting was held last week.

Asked for his comments on the panel, Leader of Opposition L K Advani told The Indian Express: ‘‘Let them do it. Their NDA obsession is going to inhibit the UPA governance.’’

Mukherjee has begun by asking the Army to reopen the coffin deal and probe whether Fernandes was directly involved in the import of 500 aluminium caskets from the United States in a deal signed post-Kargil on August 2, 1999.

Rather than order a probe on his own, Mukherjee has used the letter Fernandes wrote to the PM, seeking an inquiry into the purchase of reusable caskets by the Defence Ministry during his tenure. Fernandes wrote to Singh on May 26 and the PM later passed on the letter to Mukherjee for action.

When Fernandes was minister, the Congress had led the Opposition charge, accusing him of buying reusable caskets at a higher price and causing a loss to the exchequer. Fernandes denied the charge, saying it was politically motivated.

He maintained that the entire deal was cleared at the level of Defence Secretary under the delegated powers of the Defence Minister. He said that Rs 1.47 crore was paid to the US company and the first caskets arrived in March 2000. The entire lot was rejected by the Army on the ground of being overweight. The caskets have been lying unused in an Army shed in Delhi.

By setting up the Mukherjee panel, the PM appears to have accepted the demand by a section of the Cabinet that the UPA must investigate all issues raised by the Congress during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.