Opinion August 9, 1979, Forty Years Ago: Law vs Alliance

Express front page of August 9, 1979. (Express archives)

Unmindful of the attack that has been launched against him by Congress-I MPs, the new law minister, Shyam Nath Kacker, made it clear that he intended to pursue the cases being tried in the special courts. He said there is no proposal to drop the trial of Indira Gandhi and others going on in the special courts. Kacker told H K Dua in an interview that his position is clear: “I will not compromise on this issue and I will advise my colleagues not to compromise.” The law minister said that Prime Minister Charan Singh, had told him that the Congress-I support to the new government was unconditional. Kacker’s interpretation of unconditional support is that there is no Congress- I rider that the government has to wind up the special courts.

Plan Changes

Major changes in sectoral priorities are revealed in the final draft of the Sixth Plan (1978-83) submitted by the Planning Commission to the prime minister and the Union cabinet. The document, which was sent out last Monday, gives much higher priorities to water supply and transport and communications than were accorded in the earlier draft. The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, D T Lakdawala, is expected to meet PM Charan Singh some time this week to explain the broad features o f the new draft. The revised document envisages a total public sector outlay of Rs 71,604 crore against Rs 69,380 crore stipulated in the earlier draft.

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Charan Met Indira

PM Charan Singh secretly met Indira Gandhi, twice during the last five days to seek her cooperation in facing a mid-term poll, according to the Janata Party General Secretary Nanaji Deshmukh. Charan Singh, he said, took the help of “such political elements who were removed from the seat of power by the people in 1977 only to install himself in office. He deliberately did it with the sole motive of inflict a mid-term poll on the country.”