New Delhi, June 24: Always controversial, and never one to mince words, chief of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) B K Syngal plans to go down in style. With his tenure ending on June 30, and a whole lot of people including his predecessor T H Chowdary campaigning against an extension, Syngal has taken them all on.The result: A hilarious - for those not involved that is - battle which includes choice epithets, a host of near-wild allegations and law suits. And, given VSNL's near-monopoly over the Internet in India, it is only appropriate that the first signs of trouble appeared on the net.The battle began with Chowdary, chief of VSNL till 1991, sending a letter to Home Minister L K Advani alleging that it was rumoured that Syngal had offered Rs 70 crore out of VSNL's GDR issue last year for the BJP's party funds. Chowdary's letter said that with such allegations against Syngal and pending vigilance and CBI cases, the Government should not consider giving an extension to him.Syngal rose to theoccasion, and in an interview with the Internet magazine, Rediff-on-the-net, said: ``Chowdary's a liar. He should be trampled under an elephant's foot.''Rediff's homepage saw the two exchanging serves and volleys.Chowdary: ``Syngal's style of functioning is not good, he is arrogant, authoritative, cynical and frustrated.''Syngal: ``Yes, I am cynical and authoritative too. Can anything be done in India if you are not autocratic?''Chowdary: ``C.V. Naidu, who was also a director, died because he was harassed by Syngal.''At one point, according to matter posted on Rediff's homepage, Syngal even threatened to sue the Government if he was not given an extension. Syngal, who now doesn't wish to be drawn into the controversy, however, denies having made this particular statement.With the interview obviously not having enough of a chastising effect on Chowdary, Syngal followed this up by slapping a Rs 5-crore suit on Chowdary. Chowdary, who confirmed receipt of the show-cause notice, has beengiven a week to reply. Syngal is learnt to have asked Chowdary to deposit this amount in the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.Syngal has also written to the communications ministry giving a performance report of the growth achieved during his tenure versus that during Chowdary's. During Syngal's tenure (1990-91 to 1997-98), according to his letter, VSNL's profit-after-tax grew by 36 per cent while the growth was a mere 5.6 percent during Chowdary's stint between 1986-87 and 1990-91.Chowdary counters: ``This is like saying that during Nehru's stint as Prime Minister, the total plan allocation for five years was Rs 2,500 crore while during Vajpayee's tenure the annual plan expenditure is ten times this, therefore Vajpayee is the better PM.''Syngal's letter to the minister also states that, apart from Chowdary, other bigwigs ranged against him include N. Vittal, who heads the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) and former bureaucrat Suresh Mathur. Mathur, says Syngal, is a consultant to variousmultinational companies, and is ``using the IAS parivar to see that I am shunted out.''Sushma Swaraj, whose office has been flooded with mail for and against Syngal apart from that of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani refuses to get into the controversy. ``The PESB, which is an autonomous body, will decide on the matter. I will ratify their selection for this post,'' the Minister says.
