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Court order on Bezbaruah's transfer is fresh ammunition for Jaya

The transfer of Enforcement Director M K Bezbaruah has snowballed into a major crisis for the five-month-old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

On Tuesday, the government found itself in the dock as the Supreme Court ordered the Centre to file an affidavit by August 26 explaining the reasons for the immediate transfer of Bezbaruah last week.

The court's stern order has further escalated the tension between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partner, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Cashing in on the court directive, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha has stepped up her anti-Vajpayee offensive and demanded that the prime minister should immediately order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation to know the truth behind Bezbaruah's abrupt transfer.

Jayalalitha, who has repeatedly rejected allegations that she is behind the transfer of the top enforcement official, has already levelled bribery charges against "persons close" to the prime minister.

Refuting the AIADMK chief's accusations that hefty bribes were paid for removing Bezbaruah, Vajpayee has asked her to substantiate the charges.

While the Opposition parties have rallied behind Jayalalitha on the transfer episode, the government is veering around the idea of justifying it in the court as part of 'a routine transfer policy'.

The court has ordered that Bezbaruah's transfer -- if it takes places on or before September 8 -- shall be strictly subject to its directive.

Interestingly, there is a public interest litigation as well in the Supreme Court, filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, challenging the transfer on the ground that it was effected to scuttle Jayalalitha's prosecution in a number of cases.

Official sources maintained that Bezbaruah's transfer clearly amounts to the violation of a previous Supreme Court's order on the matter.

In the Jain hawala and Chandra Swami cases last year, the court had ordered the central government not to transfer heads of the CBI, the ED and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence who are handling sensitive cases.

The removal of Bezbaruah and some key finance ministry officials were initially seen as the government's panic reaction to ward off Jayalalitha's threat of withdrawing support. But the manner in which it has bounced back on the government has worried the BJP leadership.

"The transfer issue has been blown out of proportion as the single important motive in Jayalalitha's mind is to somehow pull down the government," a BJP insider told Rediff On The Net.

He said the BJP leadership is now reconciled to the fact that Jayalalitha will withdraw support to the coalition government. "We are prepared for the eventuality with the hope that we will overcome the crisis," the BJP functionary claimed.

The possibility of the AIADMK pulling the rug from under Vajpayee's feet has cast its shadow even on the BJP's national executive meeting which is slated to begin in Jaipur on Friday.

As the Jayalalitha-sponsored crisis is sure to preoccupy the prime minister and senior BJP leaders in the days to come, the BJP leadership has been unable to finetune the national executive programme.

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