Subramanium senses govt unhappiness,offers to quit

Subramanium has not,however,given anything in writing yet. “We can take a decision on his resignation only after we receive it. So far we do not have his resignation,” a senior law ministry official told The Sunday Express. Attempts to talk to both Moily and Subramanium were unsuccessful.

Subramanium’s decision was apparently triggered by an increasing disquiet within the ruling establishment about the way he has handled sensitive cases at a time when the government is under attack on issues like corruption and black money.

He was held responsible for not being able to defend the Prime Minister well in the 2G case last November when the Supreme Court came down heavily on the PM for failing to prevent the scam. The SC criticism had prompted the government to replace Subramanium with Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati. Moily said the change was made to ensure that the PM was “properly represented”. Subramanium,however,was allowed to represent the Department of Telecommunications.

The latest signal to Subramanium of the government’s dissatisfaction came in attempts made by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to engage a lawyer from outside the government to answer charges made against him by an NGO last week. Sibal met the PM today and apprised him of the case.

In between,Subramanium was also accused of mishandling the black money case in which the SC appointed a SIT last week. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is learnt to have made his displeasure known to the law ministry.