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Order JPC probe into Bhagwat issue or face trust vote, Swamy tells PM

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today said he would make vigorous efforts to move a no-confidence motion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the Lok Sabha if it did not relent on the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the sacking of Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat.

Addressing the media in Madras, he claimed that as many as 289 Lok Sabha members were ready to vote for a no-confidence motion.

If Prime Minister Vajpayee does not agree for a JPC probe he is only compounding the threat to the national security by Defence Minister George Fernandes, he charged.

He said once an alternative government was formed at the Centre, a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party MPs would form a separate block and support the new government.

Criticising Vajpayee for stating that the government was ready for a JPC probe if there was a prima facie case of wrong doing in the Bhagwat issue, Dr Swamy said since the government itself was an 'accused' it could not perform the role of a judge in this case.

Dr Swamy complimented All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief Jayalalitha for focussing national attention on the vital issues underlying the dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat.

He said 'the outlines of a new coalition' would be worked out before the trust vote is moved in the Lok Sabha.

Asked whether the Congress was inclined to support a non-Bharatiya Janata Party government from outside, Dr Swamy parried the question, saying it would betray the discussions he had with the Congress leadership in this regard.

On Trinamul Congress president Mamata Banerjee's support for Fernandes, he said there appeared to be instability in her mind.

Dr Swamy agreed that the 'Delhi tea-party' was only a social event. But its political importance was evident as a large number of senior diplomats and almost the entire leadership of the Congress attended it.

He said he would meet Jayalalitha later in the evening and follow up the Delhi deliberations.

UNI

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