cbi was used to scare BSP to save UPA2 -Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj

7 May 2010 BJP ACCUSES UPA2 FOR ITS MISUSE OF CBI TO SAVE THE GOVERNMENT From Our Delhi Bureau BJP leaders claim that they had exposed the UPA2 during the Budget session. And brought out the internal contradictions in UPA2 by exposing the scams and ineffective handling of law and order situation in the country. BJP leaders also said how CBI was used to save the UPA2 which was being voted out in the cut motions. Lok Sabha Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj and Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Arun Jaitley on Friday expressed satisfaction over the just concluded budget session of Parliament, claiming that their Bhartiya Janata Party sustained focus on price rise right from start to end through a volley of questions, cut-motions, adjournments and walkouts and a massive demonstration in the capital. They were, however, least troubled by Parliament Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal ruing at a separate Press conference that very little legislative business could be conducted because of obstructions in both the Houses through pandemonium, because of which the Lok Sabha lost 70 hours and Rajya Sabha 40 hours. Bansal also regretted that the Opposition did not allow question hour for 11 days, seven days in Rajya Sabha and four days in Lok Sabha. Though the Opposition unity that the BJP had mustered on issues like price rise and IPL scam collapsed when Sushma Swaraj's cut-motion on petroleum price hike was put to vote, she claimed her party never expected the cut-motion succeed but it has certainly shown the mirror to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he is heading a minority government. But for support of BSP's 22 MPs, the government would have fallen as only 289 votes were cast against the cut-motion and it showed that the government definitely does not have more than 272 members in the Lok Sabha to claim to enjoy majority, Sushma affirmed. She said the boycott of voting by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party also showed that their claim of being the opposition is fake and all that she can say about them is: "Fikra nahi mehangai ki, dar CBI ka." She said it was fear of the CBI going harsh against their party chiefs on their asset cases that these parties succumbed to bail out the government and that is why the BJP has decided to have a sustained campaign against the misuse of CBI by those in power. As part of that exercise, the BJP MPs demonstrated in the Parliament House complex on Thursday and a delegation led by BJP Parliamentary Party chairman Lal Krishna Advani on Friday submitted a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil on "blatant misuse of CBI by the ruling UPA," Sushma Said. She had also got admitted a discussion on working of CBI on Thursday which could not be taken up due to adjournment of the House and which will come up in the next monsoon session, she said. As regards women's reservation bill, Sushma said it became victim of the deals brokered by the government with BSP, SP and RJD, which are opposed to women's quota in Lok Sabha and Assemblies. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bansal, however, blamed the Opposition for obstructive politics because of which very little legislative business could be conducted during the session. Both the Houses could pass just 15 Bills altogether as against over 80 pending Bills and 37 new Bills introduced during the session, 27 in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha, Bansal pointed out. He said the total Bills passed by the Lok Sabha, including the money bills, were 26, including some 10 without discussion due to pandemonium, while the Rajya Sabha on its own passed only 16. These included the Bills that got cleared by both the Houses. In its memorandum to the President, the BJP said the UPA Government has destroyed independence and autonomy of the CBI in the last six years, pointing out that the government acted on the basis of three essential premises: --If the accused is leader of the UPA, the case against him should be subverted and closed. There has been a cover up of several cases in this category. --If the case relates to a political party which can come to the aid of UPA to muster a parliamentary majority, a sword must hang on its leaders so that CBI can act as a bargaining counter between that party and the UPA. --If the case relates to the known opponent of the UPA, then the CBI should act in a vindictive manner. Citing instances from which the BJP drew up these premises, the memorandum also accused the Centre of violating the age-old premise that no offence relating to a State can be investigated by the CBI without the specific consent of the State Government. "Today, the State of Gujarat is witnessing the tyranny of the CBI, with a systematic effort being made to harass the functionaries of the State Government, particularly police officers, in order to intimidate them and take vindictive action against them. This is being done in cases which have already been investigated by the Special Investigative Team set up by the Supreme Court. The attempt of the CBI is to create false cases on the strength of political instructions of the UPA," the memorandum said. Urging the President to stop the gross abuse of CBI by the government to help the agency regain its investigative integrity, the memorandum said the agency is being used to harass senior leaders of NDA and other opposition parties. "The CBI has been used to strike political bargains with opposition parties during the Trust Vote of 2008 and the Cut Motion of 2010," the memorandum added. ###