Mahajan dares Jaya to name him directly as bribe-taker
The relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its main ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam touched a new low today when BJP leader Pramod Mahajan dared AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha to name him directly instead of making oblique references that he had taken a bribe from a newspaper baron for ensuring the transfer of Enforcement Directorate chief M K Bezbaruah.
''I am joining what the media describes as a war of letters between the AIADMK and the BJP,'' Mahajan told journalists while refuting charges that he had taken a bribe and was in any way involved in Bezbaruah's transfer. He said he has faxed a letter
to Jayalalitha today stating this.
On Jayalalitha's charge that he had met officials of the
newspaper group involved in alleged FERA violations, Mahajan said
during the last four months he had met almost all the
editors, senior managers and owners of many newspapers, but this issue had never figured at any of his meetings.
''I request that instead of beating around the bush, you
should name me through a signed document so that I can take
appropriate legal action,'' he said, referring to Jayalalitha's reply
to Brajesh Mishra, the prime minister's principal secretary
yesterday.
In a two-page letter, copies of which were circulated to the press
soon after its despatch to Madras, Mahajan said she had
indirectly harmed his reputation rather than directly levelling
charges.
Mahajan said he would file a defamation suit against the AIADMK general
secretary shortly after receiving her reply.
Asked what he would do if she did not reply, he quipped: "It means
her charges are baseless.''
In reply to a question whether his letter would further worsen his party's
relationship with the AIADMK, Mahajan said so far as he was
concerned, there was a limit to tolerance even in politics and there
is no price for self-respect. ''Enough is enough,'' he said.
Mahajan said he has no option left but to go to the courts since nobody could
stop anybody from making defamatory statements.
Asked if he had consulted the BJP leadership before sending the missive to the AIADMK leader, he said he had consulted those who should have been taken into confidence.
Asked why he was insisting on a signed document, Mahajan said
his legal counsel were of the view that the letter was
80 per cent fit for filing a case and it is better to have a written
document.
Facing a volley of questions regarding his meeting with a senior
manager of the newspaper group in question, he said in
politics, people facing FERA violation charges ''come to you or some
time you have to go to them.''
Though he said he was not scared of any investigation into
the matter by any agency, he wondered if it was a fit case of
investigation on the basis of adverse inference, saying the matter
would merit the attention of investigative agencies if the said newspaper
had alleged the same.
Mahajan, however, did not visualise any threat to the
Vajpayee government in the wake of withdrawal of support by the
AIADMK, saying, ''I am more interested in continuance of the
government and it will continue in any case''.
Asked how long this war of attrition would continue and charges
would be traded, a visibly agitated Mahajan said the situation will
be tolerated to the maximum extent possible.
He, however said they would not succumb to any threat.
Mahajan said he had made it clear to the
AIADMK chief in his letter that though she had not mentioned him by name,
through her description she had thrown ample hints of ''having me in
her mind while making the charge.'' So he had written to her: 'Why play
a hide and seek game? Let me write to you directly'
Meanwhile, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee told Star News that there was no question of ordering any inquiry into the transfer of Bezbaruah unless Jayalalitha provided credible proof of bribes having been paid to someone in the PMO.
UNI
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