Besides inflation which has already sent the Congress ruling UPA government on the back foot, the Oppositions and the Left parties has got another hot issue raised by the corruption charges against the DMK leader and the Union Minster T R Baalu for maltreating his office to encircle the government.
The main Opposition party, BJP demanded the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make a statement in Parliament on Monday on the murky episode concerning alleged involvement of PMO’s with Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways T R Baalu for misusing his office and creating pressure on petroleum ministry to get natural gas from PSUs for the firm and companied owned by his family members.
The PMO allegedly had written not one or two but a string of eight letters between November 2007 and February 2008 reminding the petroleum ministry to expedite gas allocations to his company- King India Power Corporation.
As per the source the Congress would try to take middle path first keeping the prime minister distant from the controversial issue and secondly it would also not like to antagonise its ally, the DMK. Thus would defend the PM and Baalu taking the view that the letters were routine in cases of such representations received by the PMO.
On the other hand the BJP may seek privilege motion in the Lok Sabha against Baalu for allegedly misusing his office to benefit his sons’ companies. “The facts of the cases are not in doubt. The minister has admitted to seeking favours from the government and the PMO has written as eight letters to the Petroleum Ministry recommending his case,” said Advani.
Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a BJP leader said Baalu had admitted in the Rajya Sabha of using his office to seek help of PMO to speed up the clearance of some projects to get natural gas at the subsidised rates for two companies- Kings Chemical and Kings High Power owned by his sons.
Baalu accepted last week in the Rajya Sabha that he had talked with the petroleum minister for allocation of gas to a company of which he was the managing director in the past. “I put in a word with the petroleum minister. What’s wrong in it,” he asked.
The opposition attacked by saying it is a serious matter. The abusing of rights and privileges of his office is an obvious case of breach of the House’s privileges, Malhotra said furiously.
The BJP also would like to cash in the opportunity to build bridges with the AIADMK to stitch pre-poll alliance. The BJP has called a meeting of senior leaders of the party on Monday morning to decide the strategy on the issue to be adopted in the Parliament.
The Oppositions has sought resignation of T R Baalu.
King Power Corporation, a power plant is run by his son Selva Kumar and King Chemicals, a petroleum plant that has been declared sick under the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) run by his another son Raj Kumar.
The sources says that Baalu allegedly has been pushing ONGC and GAIL for supplying natural gas to his sons’ companies ever since it got a prized commodity.
Baalu for his part has sought a probe into how the letters reached into the hands of AIADMK.
The Baalu incident also led to removal of an AIADMK MP V Maitreyan for the day under Rule 255, which was invoked for the second time only in the history of Parliamentary democracy in India. The rule instructs that the Chairman may direct any member to leave immediately the House if he/she thinks the member's conduct has been disgustingly against the prestige of the House.
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