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Jaya lobbying for Raghavan to be next CBI chief

George Iype in New Delhi

Even as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee struggles to keep his unhappy coalition together, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha has put forward a new demand.

Official sources said Jayalalitha wants Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (vigilance and anti-corruption) R K Raghavan to be the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Raghavan, who is said to be close to the AIADMK chief, is apparently cut up with the Tamil Nadu government headed by Muthuvel Karunanidhi.

Though Raghavan is an Indian Police Service officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre from the 1963 batch, the chief minister has sidelined him for allegedly slowing down the corruption cases against his bete noire Jayalalitha.

Union home ministry officials say Vajpayee is likely to clear Raghavan's name. If he does, it will be Jayalalitha's first real victory in the eight months of the coalition's troubled existence. Earlier, whenever she threatened to withdraw support to the government, the prime minister's emissaries pacified her with promises, but little else.

Vajpayee, however, is said to be keen on Raghavan for another reason: he is the senior-most of the three officers recommended by a panel comprising the home secretary, personnel secretary, and chief vigilance commissioner.

The Cabinet appointments committee will meet soon under Vajpayee's chairmanship to choose the new chief. Other members of the committee are Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and Minister of State for Personnel R Janarthanam, incidentally a member of the AIADMK.

The other two contenders for the CBI post are Trinath Mishra, who is holding temporary charge as director, and Border Security Force Director General E N Ram Mohan.

Mishra, who joined the CBI as special director in September 1997, was named 'director in charge' in April this year.

Though he has been non-controversial, he is said to lack the experience needed to head the apex investigative agency. Vajpayee is reportedly unhappy with his failure to take any initiative to speed up disposal of the large number of cases pending with the CBI.

The Bureau has as many as 1,860 cases under investigation for periods ranging from two to 12 years. And nearly 5,100 cases are pending prosecution in various courts for up to 35 years.

But some members of the Cabinet like Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes are said to favour Mishra in view of his low-profile handling of sensitive cases.

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