The political storm over the Kargil arms procurement scam intensified with the opposition disrupting Parliament for the second day on Wednesday demanding resignation of defence minister George Fernandes and the government ruling out such a possibility. The question does not arise. Why he should resign? What is the wrong he has committed.? What is the sin?'', union minister and senior BJP leader M Venkiah Naidu said. Strongly defending Fernandes, law minister Arun Jaitley charged the Opposition with disrupting Parliament instead of having a discussion on the CAG report. Talking separately to reporters, Fernandes himself made a qualified offer of an inquiry into any of the specific transactions covered by the CAG report. But, the Opposition remained unrelenting in its demand for the resignation of the Defence Minister with the Congress spokesman S Jaipal Reddy saying it was the minimum that is required in the wake of the CAG findings.
The CPI-M and CPI, in separate statements, demanded that immediate dismissal of Fernandes with the Marxists saying that the caskets scam showed the degree of degeneration in his ministry.
Former prime minister V P Singh who led the Opposition attack on the Bofors issue over a decade back said that the government should take political responsibility for the CAG findings.
Bureau Report