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Vajpayee sacks Buta Singh

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today dropped Communication Minister Buta Singh from his council of ministers in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling indicting him in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery case.

Pramod Mahajan, the prime minister's political advisor, made the announcement at a crowded press conference at Vajpayee's home this afternoon.

He said Buta Singh was summoned by Vajpayee on Friday and asked to step down. But Singh had sought some time to approach the Supreme Court for relief. However, the apex court today declinedto hear a petition by Singh in this regard.

Following this, Vajpayee conveyed to the President this afternoon his recommendation dropping Singh from the council of ministers.

Mahajan, in a statement, expounded Vajpayee's principle of dealing with persons against whom charges of corruption have been framed.

''If charges of corruption are framed by a court of law against any person holding public office, the prime minister is of the firm view that the person concerned should step down from the office until exonerated,'' the statement said.

In reply to a question, Mahajan ruled out any danger to the month-old Vajpayee ministry.

Buta Singh is the second Union minister to go from the Vajpayee government. Earlier, Surface Transport Minister Sedapatti R Muthiah had to resign after a Madras court framed charges against him in a corruption case.

Pramod Mahajan said the prime minister received a letter from AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha on April 18 demanding that those ministers involved in court cases should be asked to resign or be dropped. In this connection, she had mentioned the names of Buta Singh, Ramakrishna Hegde and Ram Jethmalani. Mahajan said the prime minister had sought Hegde and Jethmalani's comments on this. Hegde, the commerce minister, is currently abroad.

He said Vajpayee had a cordial telephonic talk this morning with Jayalalitha, and conveyed that he valued the AIADMK's continuing co-operation and support.

Vajpayee's decision came hours after Buta Singh refused to resign from his post.

"I will not resign," he had said on Sunday night, "The PM (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) cannot pick and choose."

He had then claimed that Vajpayee telephoned him, saying he should consider resigning in the view of the court order.

"I am going back to the court tomorrow, and I conveyed this to the prime minister,'' he said yesterday.

Others in the Vajpayee government like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Ramkrishna Hegde, Ram Jethmalani are all facing one charge or the other, he pointed out. "(So) why should I be singled out?'' he had asked.

UNI

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