How Arjun Singh spared Rajiv, kayoed Rao

The Congress leadership is learnt to be satisfied with the statement made by former Union minister Arjun Singh in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday during the course of the debate on the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Highly placed sources in the Congress disclose that some weeks ago, senior leader Pranab Mukherjee called up Singh and asked him to have a cup of tea with him.

During the course of the meeting, Mukherjee is learnt to have told Singh that in the wake of the controversy, which has surrounded Rajiv Gandhi and the release of Union Carbide Corporation CEO Warren Anderson in 1984, Singh should clarify the issue and put the facts in the public domain at the appropriate time.

He is said to have made the point that it was Congress President Sonia Gandhi's wish that this be done.

Agreeing with him, Singh was said to be of the view that he would be only too happy to put the record straight, but it would be better if Sonia personally asked him to do this.

Accordingly, a meeting was fixed just before the Congress president went abroad to attend to her ailing mother. The details of the meeting are not known.

It was decided that Singh's clarification should come during the course of the debate in Parliament on the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Sources say that Singh contacted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal on the morning of the debate and informed him that he had just heard Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj on the issue in the Lok Sabha and was pained at the manner in which she was attacking Rajiv Gandhi and that he would therefore like to speak in the Upper House during the course of the debate.

Taken by surprise, a flummoxed Bansal said that Singh would need to have the decision cleared at the higher level. Accordingly, Mukherjee was asked and he gave his nod.

Interestingly, before he spoke, Singh also sent a copy of his speech to Bansal through a trusted aide that was promptly sent to Pranab Mukherjee for his approval. Sources say that it was only after Mukherjee approved the speech that Singh finally broke his silence and shed light on some, if not all, the issues that had been dodging the Congress party.

Replying to the debate, Home Minister P Chidambaram also quoted extensively from the Singh's speech, giving the House a sense that the contents had been accepted by the party leadership.

While it is not known what is the quid pro quo between Singh and the leadership on the issue, a senior leader said it is significant that Singh emphasised the point that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take up the issue of Anderson's extradition with the US President Barack Obama soon after the latter's arrival in India.

With the Congress party endorsing this line of action and Chidambaram stating that the Ministry of External Affairs had already begun preparing the required papers for this, it again looks as though Singh is once again setting the agenda.

But more important than that he has been able to score political points with Sonia by giving a clean chit to Rajiv and putting both Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh in the dock. It was vintage Arjun Singh.