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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, March 12: Even as a 16-member committee comprising senior Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha leaders was set up today to decide whether a debate could be held in Parliament on the sacking of naval chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, the Congress and other Opposition parties are preparing to mount a huge offensive against the Government from tomorrow.
A debate on corruption charges raised by former consultant in the Finance Ministry Mohan Guruswamy will begin in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow while the Lok Sabha will discuss this issue and the corruption charges in defence deals next week.
The strategy of a combined Opposition is to target as many bigwigs in the government -- including Prime Minister A B Vajpayee -- as possible and ultimately force it to agree to the constitution of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) into the two issues.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar will meet various Opposition leaders on Monday to fine-tune the line of attack. Opposition circles were confident thatthe government would have no choice but to agree to their demand for a JPC, recalling that even the late Rajiv Gandhi, although armed with a majority in the Lower House, had to concede to such a demand on the Bofors issue.
An indication of the aggressive mood of the Opposition was evident from the debate in the Lok Sabha, where the Opposition used the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address to rake up the Bhagwat affair.
Communist Party of India leader Indrajit Gupta pointed out that the charges made by Bhagwat against Defence Minister George Fernandes had not been contradicted by the Minister.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Chandra Shekhar will be the convenor of the committee of leaders of both Houses, which will study the files and decide whether the Bhagwat dismissal could be discussed on the floor of the Houses. The committee will comprise 10 Lok Sabha and six Rajya Sabha members. Former prime ministers H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, DefenceMinister George Fernandes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam, former Defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Somnath Chaterjee (CPI-Marxist), Indrajit Gupta (CPI) and Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar.
The representatives from the Rajya Sabha are Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Manmohan Singh and his Congress colleague Pranab Mukherjee, Adhik Shirodkhar (Shiv Sena), E.Balanandan (CPI-M), J Chittarajan (CPI) and Raja Ramanna (Nominated).
The decision to constitute the leaders' panel was taken at a meeting Speaker G M C Balayogi had with Vajpayee and representatives of different parties in the Lok Sabha. It was at this meeting that Chandra Shekhar suggested the formation of a compact committee which could study the files relating to the Bhagwat dismissal. This was agreed to by the government as well as other leaders.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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