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RSS queered Jaswant Singh's pitch

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

Strenuous lobbying by industry for Jaswant Singh might have cost him the plum post of finance minister in the newly sworn in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Apparently, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, both of which have strong links to the Bharatiya Janata Party, did not take kindly to a section of the so-called Bombay Club's lobbying for Jaswant, and put pressure on Vajpayee not to include him in the cabinet.

Media circles were almost certain the Jaswant Singh, who was finance minister in the 13-day BJP government in 1996, would be given the portfolio again, in spite of losing the recent Lok Sabha election for Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.

It has been reported that Singh's name was included in the list that was sent to the President on March 17 of those who were to be sworn in. However, it is now reported that just before the swearing in on March 18, the President's office was told to cancel Jaswant Singh's name. The call came from Vajpayee's residence.

Jaswant Singh is reportedly close to business magnate Nusli Wadia, chairman of the Bombay Dying empire. Moreover, a section of the "Bombay Club" (a group of Indian industrialists who are keen to slow down opening of the Indian economy) had strongly lobbied Singh within the party and had planted stories in the media.

A senior BJP leader revealed to Rediff On The Net that a high-level delegation of two leading chambers of industry and commerce had met Jaswant Singh on the eve of the swearing in. All this did not go down too well with the RSS. "He may still become the finance minister but the organisation wants to prove the point that this is not the way BJP nominates its ministers," said the leader. The RSS used Singh's electoral defeat against him.

"The RSS is not comfortable with such a person in North Block. He does not have the training or credibility required for a good finance minister," insisted the leader, "If he had won the elections he would have been given a suitable post, but not necessarily the finance portfolio."

He added, "Are industrialists to decide the finance minister? The trade bodies after meeting him yesterday rang up most of the newspapers and gave the news."

The BJP has been trying to prove that the way the Indian economy was run was wrong and that the strong swadeshi (nationalist) thrust would right many wrongs.

But many big industrial houses in Bombay wanted a liberal in North Block, the office of the finance minister. The capital markets had responded positively to the news of Jaswant Singh becoming the finance minister and it plummeted when it was found that he was not being inducted.

BJP sources said that the media created a larger than life image of Jaswant Singh after he was despatched to placate All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's recalcitrant general secretary J Jayalalitha.

"Pramod Mahajan is closer to Vajpayee," pointed a high-level BJP official, "but Jaswant Singh was sent to Madras because he is suave and could influence the convent-educated Jayalalitha. And if a touch of royalty is given, the queen could be easily influenced."

Yet, party sources are not ready to hazard a guess on whether Jaswant Singh will be kept out of the picture completely.

Before Yashwant Sinha was named finance minister, a rumour doing the rounds was that Vajpayee would keep the portfolio to himself, while still others assert that Vajpayee will give it to Jaswant Singh later.

The next expansion of the ministry could be after the vote of confidence on March 29. Members from states still not represented are hoping for a berth when that happens.

Two names being mentioned are O Rajagopal from Kerala and Tapan Sikdar from West Bengal. Sikdar is the first BJP member from West Bengal after Jan Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. It is learned that he could not find a place in the ministry because of Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Bannerjee's reluctance to let anyone from West Bengal become minister before she does. Mamta herself will not join the government till the local council elections in West Bengal are over.