India: New Hindu Nationalist Coalition Government Dismisses Cabinet Minister Facing Corruption Charges

Record ID: 3980

  • Title: India: New Hindu Nationalist Coalition Government Dismisses Cabinet Minister Facing Corruption Charges
  • Date: 20th April 1998
  • Summary: India's five-week-old Hindu nationalist coalition government has dropped a cabinet minister who is facing corruption charges. Bowing to pressure from a regional ally, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on April 20 sacked Communications Minister Buta Singh after the Supreme Court cleared the way for graft charges to be brought against him. Vajpayee's government is a disparate coalition formed around his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party after an inconclusive general election. It won endorsement from parliament last month by a margin of just 13 votes. One of its key components, the southern-based All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) lost a cabinet minister because of a corruption case earlier this month and has now demanded that three other ministers -- including Singh -- be removed on the same grounds. Singh faces trial in the Jharkand Mukti Morcha (JMM) case of vote-buying in parliament in 1993. He denies any wrongdoing. Singh accused Vajpayee of betrayal, saying he had been singled out while the prime minister failed to act against other accused ministers. "I am pained by the behaviour meted out to me by singling me out. There are about half a dozen chargesheeted ministers. The party which claimed that it will provide a fear-less government, its own prime minister is scared", Buta told reporters. The prime minister's office said it was looking into complaints against the two other ministers. "There is no crisis," Vajpayee's political advisor, Pramod Mahajan, told a news conference after a weekend of backstage manoeuvres. "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," Mahajan said.
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  • Location: INDIA DELHI
  • Reuters ID: LDL00128Q6WJ3
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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