The Mayawati tapes, that unwound 11 days ago in Lucknow and threatened to stall parliamentary proceedings and unite the Opposition in New Delhi, has instead deepened old suspicions and confirmed nagging doubts. It was a sullen Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who said the Congress has let him down on the issue. At the party’s ongoing national convention in Agra, Yadav said: ‘‘The Leader of the Opposition (Sonia Gandhi) should have intervened on the videotape issue in Lok Sabha. I don’t know what is the objective of the Congress. I expected the party to play the role of the Opposition party in its true sense. But this did not happen.’’ Once burnt, Zee holds back airing of full tapes New Delhi: After promising to telecast the undoctored version of Mayawati Tapes, Zee Telefilms inexplicably decided to hold them back at the last minute before they went on air. The directions to stop the telecast of the undoctored version, which was supposed to go on air at 9.30 pm last Wednesday, apparently came from Zee News head Laxmi Goel, sources said. Senior Zee officials virtually hinted at political pressure leading to the decision. Goel denied the channel had anything to hide. He said: ‘‘Hamne jo dikhana hai, dikha diya (we have shown whatever needs to be shown).’’ Senior officials manning the news department said they had the undoctored tapes in their possession, and of this edited portions were telecast. ‘‘There were instructions to stop the telecast of the tape from the highest level,’’ they added. Exactly two years ago, around the same time, Zee Telefims had incurred the BJP-led NDA Government’s displeasure over the repeated telecast of Tehelka tapes. The channel had taken the decision to show the tapes over a period of four days but had miserably failed to attract viewers as well as advertisement revenues. ENS Yadav’s party members are more stinging. ‘‘The Congress has only created an illusion of protest,’’ says a senior leader, ‘‘what was the need of the Congress MPs to rush to the President yesterday when they had the whole floor of Lok Sabha for 10 days to make their point on the Mayawati issue?’’ It was on March 3 that the SP had unspooled video tapes showing the UP Chief Minister egging her party MLAs and MPs to dip into their MPLADS funds and donate to the party. While Mayawati insisted the tapes were forged, SP leaders were confident the scandal would dethrone her. Instead, the protests both in and outside Parliament fizzled out. Congress leaders defend that the tape drama had its limitations. Despite its backing the SP’s disruption of proceedings in Parliament, its demands to move a privilege motion against Mayawati for accusing MPs of corruption and for her resignation was unacceptable as it was the UP Assembly alone which could allow a discussion on these issues. In fact, the outcry in Parliament even forced Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to threaten resignation rather than allow a discussion which would infringe on the autonomy of the State Assembly. However, Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy asserted the video saga is far from over. ‘‘The video episode is not yet exhausted. It has had considerable impact on the balance of political forces in UP. First, the BJP, Mayawati’s ally, is shaken. Two, the PM was tied in knots about meeting Mayawati last week because of the scandal. A single issue may not topple a government but it does deal a blow to its credibility. Perhaps, the SP’s grouse lies in the fact that the Congress did not take up the issue as it did the Tehelka scam, when it not only stalled Parliament for at least a week but also forced Defence Minister George Fernandes and BJP president Bangaru Laxman to quit,’’ he said. Said a disgruntled SP MP: ‘‘Tehelka only exposed how defence deals are conducted and Fernandes was not even directly involved. Here, there is a clear case for Mayawati’s dismissal. The Congress is not clear on any issue.’’
