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Monday morning for the top brass of the BJP and the Government was a lot clearer. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had set the stage the previous night and with both Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu agreeing with the PM that Dilip Singh Judeo had to go, the Union Minister of State for Environment sent in his papers which was accepted by the President late this evening.
The decision was hard but there was little choice. Few in the BJP and the Government want to face elections shadowed by images of a party president and now a Union Minister accepting cash on camera as exposed by The Indian Express.
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So the brazen denial in Delhi yesterday morning and Judeo8217;s loud-mouthed defence in Raipur quickly gave way to damage control.
Once Judeo8217;s head had rolled, Vajpayee, at an iftar hosted by Textiles Minister Shahnawaz Hussain this evening, said he had ordered a CBI inquiry into the scandal. Asked if he had seen the VCD and what he made of it, the Prime Minister said: 8216;8216;It is not clear.8217;8217;
What was clear, however, was the party8217;s line. In fact, early in the day, it was Naidu himself who called up Judeo and asked him to send in his resignation. So when the high-level meeting was convened for a 8216;8216;discussion8217;8217; on the issue at the Prime Minister8217;s residence, much of what it was focused on what to do next. Those at the meeting included Advani, Naidu, general secretary Pramod Mahajan, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, parliamentary party secretary Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad.The consensus was: Judeo had to go to limit collateral damage but given his bastion in Chhattisgarh8217;s tribal belt, he should be allowed to campaign8212;at least for now.
Unable to gauge the extent to which the Judeo tape may damage the party8217;s poll-prspects, Vajpayee played it safe when The Indian Express tried to draw him out on the issue. 8216;8216;The results will tell,8217;8217; he said.
Another dimension to the BJP8217;s strategy is to try and deflect attention by launching a counter-attack on the Congress on two issues 8212; the Telgi scandal that threatens the Maharashtra government and the chargesheet against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi.
This was evident when Naidu, bombarded with a volley of questions on Judeo, sought to know if the Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra and Karnataka were ready for a CBI inquiry into the Telgi scam. 8216;8216;What is their response? Why are they not demanding a CBI probe into it?8217;8217; And that the Congress, before seeking action against Judeo, needed to explain what action it would take against Jogi who faced charges of 8216;8216;forgery and cheating.8217;8217;
Sources said at today8217;s meeting, leaders floated a trial balloon: could the money received by Judeo be called a contribution to the election fund? It was promptly shot down.
For the record, though, the BJP chief said Judeo had told him that the matter was part of a 8216;8216;conspiracy8217;8217; and a 8216;8216;vilification8217;8217; campaign against him and the party. Naidu claimed Judeo had offered to resign yesterday8212;just the opposite of what Judeo himself said in Raipur8212;but was told that the Prime Minister was away and he should wait for the party8217;s 8216;8216;guidance.8217;8217; Naidu claimed that Judeo felt that it would be 8216;8216;better8217;8217; if he quit office as the Congress could make it an election issue.
| 8226;Excerpts from the transcript of the VCD |
