Bedlam in Rajya Sabha over Congress MP's views

S S Ahluwalia, the Congress and former Union minister, kicked up a storm in the Rajya Sabha on Friday when he accused the CBI officers handling the fodder scam of violating the central civil service rules.

By disclosing their intention of chargesheeting Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and others in the scam before actually doing so, the officers had given an opportunity to the media to carry out a trial of the accused, Ahluwalia said.

Then, as the Congress member started making comparisons with the Jain hawala case, bedlam broke out in the House. Furious with his statement that L K Advani had to resign from the Lok Sabha after he was chargesheeted in the hawala case, the Bharatiya Janata Party members were on their feet.

Ahluwalia said it had been specifically mentioned in the service conduct rules that no official, unless authorised by the minister concerned, could divulge any classified information to the press. He wanted to know if this procedure was followed by the CBI before rushing to the media.

Ahluwalia also referred to the letter written by the leader of the Opposition in Parliament, A B Vajpayee, to Prime Minister I K Gujral regarding prosecution of the accused in the scam. Ahluwalia wanted to know how Vajpayee got to know that accused No 24 was Laloo Prasad Yadav. He alleged that the information must have been provided by the CBI itself to finish off Yadav politically.

Janata Dal member Som Pal said bureaucrats were in the habit of exceeding their limits and going to the press. There was code of conduct for them but they ignored it. He demanded action against the CBI director if the government felt that he had exceeded his limits.

Defending the CBI, CPI-M MP M A Baby said the country was eager to know about the investigations into various scams. Laloo Yadav, he said, should quit as chief minister to face the charge as Advani had done before.

UNI

Earlier story:
Gujral on Laloo: 'Who am I to take a decision?'