Bank scam may kill Moopanar's chances of being PM

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

Tamil Maanila Congress chief G K Moopanar's chances of landing the prime minister's office have come under a cloud with the Indian Bank case haunting his prospects.

The Supreme Court, on Monday, April 7, gave the ''last opportunity'' to the federal government to file a response within two weeks in the Rs 13 billion scam, allegedly involving several senior politicians.

The ''last opportunity'' was given by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice J S Verma, Justice S P Bharucha and Justice S C Sen when a petition by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy came up for hearing.

When the court enquired from Attorney-General Ashok Desai whether the government has filed a response as directed earlier, he said two more weeks were required. The court then granted the time and adjourned the hearing till April 21.

Though federal Finance Minister P Chidambaram is busy drafting a position paper, arguing why Moopanar is the best bet as prime minister, the TMC supremo's chances have further weakened with the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, Telugu Desam Party, the Asom Gana Parishad and the Communists' opposition to the former Congressman's candidature.

Interestingly, Moopanar's name has not cropped up anywhere in the Indian Bank scam, but Swamy has alleged that the senior politician has had a key role to play in the huge financial irregularities which took place in the reign of former bank chairman M Gopalakrishnan.

Even amicus curaie Anil Divan, reporting to a division bench of the court earlier this week, alleged interference by Minister of State for Personnel S R Balasubramaniam, who is a TMC member. Divan also spoke of avoidable transfers of officers in the department even as the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing the case.

With the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Janata Dal coming out in favour of Deve Gowda's leadership of the United Front, the DMK-TDP-AGP position has gained greater strength.

It has reached a stage where the Congress voting out the Deve Gowda ministry on April 11 could imply the latter's continuance as the caretaker regime.

This may kill the hopes of Congress president Sitaram Kesri who would like to be caretaker prime minister himself, if not a proper prime minister, commanding a parliamentary majority.

The DMK finds the evolving situation a little too tricky for it to ensure that Moopanar does not become prime minister without having to break the existing electoral agreement between parties and without Karunanidhi's leadership coming to be seen as anti-Tamil despite its protestations to the contrary. However, a way out seems to be under consideration.

Accordingly, it would be enough for the Communists and parties like the AGP and TDP to tell the President that they would not support any new government if and when the Deve Gowda regime is voted out.

If the Bharatiya Janata Party too sticks to this line, independent of the UF partners and for its own reasons, the President would have little cause for inviting Kesri to try form a government and test its majority in the Lok Sabha.

UF sources also do not rule out the possibility of the BJP staying away from the April 11 vote, if the Congress does not come around to the accepting Deve Gowda's leadership.

It would imply that the 183-strong UF could get the motion through in the face of opposition from the 144-member Congress grouping.

The benefit for the BJP in this is that a weak Deve Gowda from a weaker United Front would be the caretaker prime minister, not a comparative strong Kesri from an equally strong Congress.

For their part, BJP sources rule out any possibility of the party trying to form an alternative government in the company of its allies, including the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Though informed sources do not completely rule out the possibility of parties like the TMC, and even the DMK coming to the help of the BJP, if their strength by itself could help ensure a 'stable government at the Centre', leaders like L K Advani and A B Vajpayee are said to be against such a strategy.