The Bharatiya Janta Party has alleged that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been directly implicated in the appointment of chief vigilance commissioner PJ Thomas.
The BJP says that the government is lying about the fact that they had no knowledge that a case was pending against Thomas when he was appointed CVC.
With the Supreme Court taking up the case of the appointment of the CVC again, they asked the government a direct question: were they aware of the criminal case against him? In reply, Attorney General Gulam Vahanvati told the court that the government had no knowledge about the case, a fact which was only known later.
To this leader of the opposition, Sushma Swaraj has claimed that the law officer( Vahanvati) was lying and that she had brought the matter to the knowledge of the Prime Minister and the home minister, both of whom were members of the committee along with herself, but her objections were brushed aside and the government went ahead and cleared Thomas for appointment as CVC.
Sushma Swaraj says she would now file an affidavit before the Supreme Court where she would detail all the facts known to her and which she brought before the government.
Interestingly, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram who is in Davos to attend the meeting of the World Economic Forum called up the attorney general and asked him to issue a clarification, which he did late in the evening.
Sources in the government say that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to go on defending Thomas but the issue is now not confined to him alone. It has
While Thomas' position has becoming increasingly untenable, the problem is that because the office of CVC is a constitutional authority, the government is not in a position to sack Thomas.
In the event that the Supreme Court passes a tough order questioning the appointment of Thomas As CVC, it would be a huge embarrassment for the government.
Interestingly, the Congress party has also washed its hands off the entire episode saying the issue was between the government and the Supreme Court and it was for the law officers to make the position clear. "Where does the Congress come in the picture?" asked Janardhan Dwivedi who heads the AICC media department.
The party, while admitting unofficially that the issue was an embarrassment for the party and the government, expressed surprise and bewilderment at the manner in which the law ministry and its law officers were handling issues, which were further compounding the government's woes.
Sources say that the lack of co-ordination between the party and the government is becoming more and more obvious, and an impression is gaining ground that the two are working at cross purposes. A senior leader who is watching the ongoing developments with an eagle eye, says that much of the problems being faced by the government are showing the Prime Minister in a poor light. The question being asked is, is much of it deliberate?
