NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The Congress on Friday alleged that "Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha are subtly blackmailing each other for mutual survival" on the controversial Unit Trust of India issue.
"The only reason why the finance minister is able to continue is because the prime minister cannot afford to ask him to leave. The prime minister's office is as much involved in the UTI controversy as the finance minister," Congress spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters in Parliament.
"Yashwant Sinha knows too much for the prime minister to give him marching orders," Reddy pointed out.
He said Vajpayee's foster son in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya's facile explanation that he had rung up the former UTI chairman to ostensibly redeem his family units was preposterous.
"The explanation is so laughable that it does not wash with the people," he pointed out.
However, he expressed his party's satisfaction that an understanding had been reached in Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balyogi's chamber that all issues pertaining to the UTI, including those discussed in the two houses of Parliament, would be probed by the joint parliamentary committee inquiring into the securities scam.
"However, we continue to hold the view that the finance minister has no moral right to continue in office. His continuance is a blot on the name of India's democracy."
The UTI Scandal: Complete Coverage
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
