NDA Govt. may collapse: Jaipal Reddy

NEW DELHI, APRIL 1. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government may collapse under the weight of its internal contradictions, in the wake of the tehelka.com expose, according to the Congress' chief spokesperson, Mr. Jaipal Reddy.

``We will do nothing to bring about the fall of the Government,'' he said in an interview to UNI here. ``We are neither in the toppling game nor in the destabilisation game''.

Mr. Reddy said the crisis created by tehelka.com had deepened within the NDA. This was clear from increasing contradictions within the alliance - Ms. Mamata Banerjee had quit the NDA, the Telugu Desam Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had refused to associate themselves with the Prime Minister's anti-Tehelka platform and the Shiv Sena supremo, Mr. Bal Thackeray, continued to ask for the heads of Mr. Brajesh Mishra and Mr. N.K. Singh.

The Sena wants a probe into the activities of Mr. Ranjan Bhattacharya, foster son-in-law of the Prime Minister.

``All these developments indicate only one thing - that crisis in the NDA Government is increasing,'' according to Mr. Reddy.

Asked about the possibility of a mid-term poll, he said, ``we are neither envisaging nor welcoming the possibility''. About the Congress strategy, he said, that would depend on how and when the Government fell. ``Our strategy will depend on the context of the fall of the Government.''

`Probe, a whitewash'

Explaining why the Congress was opposed to a judicial inquiry or a debate in Parliament over the Tehelka expose, Mr. Reddy said a judicial probe, going by the terms of reference, was a ``whitewash and an attempt at massive cover-up''.

According to Mr. Reddy, when there was ``indisputable evidence'' (about payoffs in defence deals), action was required. ``We will debate in Parliament after action is taken,'' he said. ``Debate is no substitute for action''. He described as ``totally false and misleading'' the BJP's charge that the Tehelka expose was Congress handiwork, and said his party had nothing to do with it and pointed out that Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, himself admitted that seeing a conspiracy behind the episode was wrong.

About the senior Congress leader, Mr. Arjun Singh's name being dragged into the episode, Mr. Reddy said he had already clarified that Mr. Singh and the Congress Media Department official, Mr. Tom Wadakkan, had nothing to do with Tehelka.

The expose, he said, was a challenge to the system in our country. That was the reason why the Congress had embarked upon a multi-phase agitation programme which was now in full swing.

The Congress spokesman said his party and the people's front were campaigning for the same cause against the NDA Government. Regarding the possibility of joint action, he said the stage for that was yet to be reached.

Coalition government

Asked why the party had deviated from its Pachmarhi stand not to go in for any alliance, Mr. Reddy pointed out that in the All India Congress Committee session at Bangalore, the party made clear that the Pachmarhi resolution was misunderstood. He clarified that at Pachmarhi, the party said it considered the coalition phase as transitional. It also stated that it would in the meantime go in for alliances without compromising on ideology.

Stating that the ``Pachmarhi resolution was widely misunderstood as total opposition to coalition,'' Mr. Reddy said in the party's Bangalore resolution the Congress merely cleared the misunderstanding. ``We would not be opposed to alliances while working for restoration of the original strength of the party.''

Describing the Central Bureau of Investigation's action against Ms. Sonia Gandhi's personal secretary, Mr. Vincent George, as a blatant example of political vindictiveness, he said the party did not want to go into the merits of the case repeatedly as, ``if we do so we will be walking into the trap laid for us by the NDA Government''. In that case, the Government would succeed in its diversionary tactics. ``The whole idea was to get the attention of the people deflected from Tehelka.''

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