Governor Mehra, Indira Gandhi and A.R. Antulay: A brief encounter

"Mrs Gandhi will not oblige those who want to see me out of office." With these prophetic words, Maharashtra's mercurial Chief Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay hung on to his chair last month.Despite one of the most sustained campaigns ever carried out against any chief minister, Antulay appears to have weathered the storm, and will continue to lead the Maharashtra Congress(I) legislative party for at least another month.For Antulay it was undoubtedly a much needed reprieve from the agonising September ordeal. During the entire month he hit bed each night with a proverbial bomb ticking next to his alarm clock. A hot-line call from New Delhi would have sealed his fate, put an end to his 16-month career as Maharashtra's chief minister.But that call never came. When the expected caller, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, flew out of the country on her two-week tour of Australia and South-East Asia, Antulay and his faithfuls heaved a sigh of relief. "We can sleep soundly now," said one of them.Antulay was spared the axe, ostensibly, because of Mrs Gandhi's inability to pass a judgement on his controversial fund collection drive for half a dozen trusts including the Indira Gandhi Pratibha Pratishthan. Since Mrs Gandhi has scant regard for the nation's press, she chose her trusted Foreign Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao to investigate the entire affair and report to her.Rao, who postponed his departure for New York, air dashed to Bombay and held midnight parleys with Antulay. Later, he and his aides scanned over 500 files connected with the departments of civil supplies, urban development, industries, cooperation, which were flown to New Delhi along with four top officials of the state Government in a state Government owned aircraft.The officials summoned by the party's high command, were: Chief Secretary P.G. Gavai, Social Welfare Secretary Anil Kumar, Urban Development Secretary A.N. Batyal, Revenue Secretary R.L. Pradeep and the Chief Minister's Secretary S.P. Mohoni.Suspense: While the files were being scrutinised Mrs Gandhi kept members of the Congress Parliamentary Board guessing. All of them, however, were directed by the AICC(I) secretariat to remain in the city for a possible meeting to decide Antulay's fate.Since Rao could not produce his report on time, it was decided to postpone the decision till Mrs Gandhi's return from her foreign tour on October 8. Explains one of Rao's aides: "It was not possible for him to go through the pile of files in a short time because he had to attend to visiting foreign dignitaries."Party insiders and the Opposition leaders, however, maintain that the entire exercise of summoning the state's bureaucracy to New Delhi was just an eye wash so that anti-Antulay forces could be kept under control. Says Ramdas Nayak, general secretary of Bombay Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): "Antulay is very clever and has been able to trap his leadership into his game. He will be able to manipulate the politics to his advantage now."Governor Mehra, Mrs Gandhi and Antulay: A brief encounterAntulay's ability to rally around him the entire state party machinery during and after the crisis was indeed surprising particularly since his imposition on a state in which he had little regional support. In fact the strong and open support for Antulay from the ruling party both at the Centre and the state, is the main factor behind Antulay's survival maintain Congress(I) sources.Disclosed a dissident Congress(I) MLA from Bombay: "Never before has a chief minister received such a massive support from his party. "Of the 280-odd Congress(I) MLAs and MLCs, over 200 signed a memorandum addressed to the prime minister requesting her not to accept Antulay's resignation. The memorandum read: "Our chief minister is under attack because he is result-oriented, dynamic and has been able to run the state administration efficiently."Public Relations: In addition, in an unprecedented move, Gulab Rao Patil, who was not a supporter of Antulay earlier, came out openly in his support when he wrote to the District Congress Committees to pass adulatory resolutions in favour of the chief minister. Youth Congress(I) leaders were asked by a top Congress(I) leader to heckle and humiliate those who were opposed to the chief minister.Antulay's public relations machinery did not operate in Maharashtra alone. He sent his entire cabinet to Delhi to plead with the prime minister and Rajiv Gandhi on his behalf. All of them could not meet Mrs Gandhi but a letter was handed over to her on their behalf.A detailed brief on the achievements of the Maharashtra chief minister and his 'innocence' in the fund-collection drive was distributed among the Congress(I) members from Maharashtra, senior civil servants believed to be close to 1 Safdarjang Road and other prominent Congress(I) leaders.The basic thrust of the campaign was that Chief Minister Antulay was not alone in raising money for the trusts. Interestingly, Maharashtra Government officials were busy distributing a list of trusts headed by all the former chief ministers and the funds collected by them while refusing to divulge the information regarding the other five trusts under Antulay's control. Even P.V. Narasimha Rao, it is understood, could not procure the full list of donors who had given money to the Konkan Unnati Mitra Mandal, which has collected over Rs 12 crore.But the most important factor responsible for the delay in deciding Antulay's fate is the issue of control over the trusts. Though no formal decision has yet been taken about the trusts, the Central leadership is working on two different options.Since Antulay is not likely to part with the trusts easily, the Union Law Ministry is working on the draft of a Central ordinance which would bring all the trusts under Central Government control.In addition, the Congress(I) leadership is pressuring Antulay to hand over the trusts to the persons nominated by Mrs Gandhi. But Antulay's supporters are not willing to give in on the plea that no accounts have yet been sought from the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust.Implications: Mrs Gandhi's advisers refute the allegation that she was prevented from taking a decision on the trusts due to the pressure generated by the Antulay affair. Says one of her aides: "The Antulay affair has far reaching implications. It is not just a simple question of sacking a chief minister which she can do any moment."According to the Congress(I) sources, the basic issues Mrs Gandhi has to tackle are:Whether or not the removal of Antulay would be construed as discrimination against a minority community?Whether Antulay has actually misused his official position for the gains of his family members, friends and himself?Whether the person chosen as an alternative to Antulay will be able to keep the party together?And above all, will the credibility of the battered Opposition and the press get a boost if Antulay is sacked?Will any adverse decision lead to the demand for die ouster of chief ministers in other states?And, how to handle the six trusts under Antulay's control?Shalinitai Patil: Enemy withinA basic fact that receded into the background last fortnight was the clear legal position that Antulay's trust could not have been registered as the Indira Gandhi Pratibha Pratishthan without the consent of the Government, or a competent authority.Section three of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, prohibits the use of the name or pictorial representation of the prime minister of India "without the previous permission of the Central Government or of such officer of Government as may be authorised in this behalf by the Central Government."Mrs Gandhi may or may not have been in the know, but this strongly suggests that the parchment she signed associating herself with the trust was used by Antulay to get around this hurdle. Said a jurist, "If this weren't necessary in the law, any fool could set up a trust called 'Indira Gandhi trust for fallen politicians' or something equally stupid."Though she evaded direct reference to the Antulay affair during her reply to the Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister did discuss the thorny issues with her senior Cabinet colleagues last fortnight. Further, it is part of her style of functioning to allow things to take their own course and take a decision at the time of her own choice.The ouster of both Dr Channa Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Jagannath Pahadia of Rajasthan are classic examples of her style of operation. Both of them were allowed to continue as long as opposition against them were at the zenith. As soon as tempers had cooled, she axed them.While the ruling party is dithering over the Antulay issue, the Opposition has sustained its tirade against him. Encouraged by the strong indictment by S.C. Pratap, a senior Bombay High Court judge on the question of cement allotment, the major opposition groups are planning to launch legal proceedings against the chief minister. Justice Pratap while hauling up a deputy secretary of the Maharashtra Government for not producing a certain circular in court said: "It appears prima facie to be a deliberate attempt to deflate and defeat the course of justice and constitutional processes. Such acts prejudice the due course of judicial proceedings. It is indeed a serious matter." Said Harikesh Bahadur, a young Democratic Socialist member of the Lok Sabha: "If Antulay has any respect for the judiciary he should quit immediately." In fact the court's ruling has created many problems for the ruling party because of the many disclosures that followed the court's decision to admit the writ petition.Allotments: According to circumstantial evidence, it is now clear that most of the cement allotments were done in favour of those who had donated money to the various trusts.If this is proved correct, not only will Finance Minister R. Venkataraman face another privilege motion in the winter session of the Parliament, Antulay will be liable for prosecution under Section 5(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to legal luminaries there is direct use of official position in as much as cement bags could be allotted only by using his official position and not as a trustee of the trust.Narasimha Rao: Mrs Gandhi's ombudsmanAccording to Maharashtra Mantralaya sources, the eight companies controlled by one of Bombay's most well-known and largest builders, the Rahejas were issued 700 tonnes of cement in return for donations given by individual members of the family.The breakup of 700 tonnes of cement allotment on July 2, 1981 to various concerns believed to be owned by Rahejas is: Ganga Bhawan Co-operative Housing Society - 100 tonnes, Ms Bandhu Co-operative Society - 200 tonnes, Pearl Corporation - 100 tonnes, Orchard Corporation - 75 tonnes, Cool Breeze Corporation - 75 tonnes, Ms Bhagwan Dass - 75 tonnes and Ms D.S. Raheja - 75 tonnes.The total donation of Rs 5.6 lakh for 700 tonnes (14,000 bags) given on July 4,1981, works out neatly to the rate of Rs 40 a bag - a modus operandi figure which was subsequently denied by Antulay. The breakup of the donations by trusts owned and controlled by the Rahejas is: Shanti Raheja - Rs 10,000, Dr B.S. Raheja - Rs 7,500, Deepak Raheja - Rs 10,000, Vijay B. Raheja - Rs 7,500, Rajan Raheja - Rs 10,000, R.R. Finance Corporation - Rs 10,000, Orchard Corporation - Rs 15,000, Pearl Corporation - Rs 20,000, Manali Corporation - Rs 30,000, Cool Breeze Corporation - Rs 20,000, Lotus Corporation - Rs 50,000, Queen Park Corporation - Rs 40,000, D.S. Raheja & Co - Rs 35,000, B.S. Raheja - Rs 7,500, Mrs Geeta Raheja - Rs 75,000 and Raheja Foundation - Rs 2,80,000. Rahejas have, however, refused to comment on the question of cement allotment.Opposition leaders and the Central Government intelligence sources are also looking into the allotment of over 50 flats on a priority basis by the Maharashtra Government to certain influential persons including the Union Minister of State Charanjit Channana. The going rate for a flat varies from Rs 1 lakh to over Rs 5 lakh in most localities of Bombay. Says a Janata leader: "These flats must have been given after the donations to various trusts."Opposition: As the nexus between the donations and the favours shown to various individuals and institutions unfolds over the next few weeks, the Opposition expects to bolster its contention that, "It was the biggest scandal of the country."In addition to a hostile Opposition, Antulay is also likely to face problems from within his own party. Shalinitai Patil, the ousted revenue minister has sought her party's approval to explain her stand on the Antulay affair to the people.She has accused the party leadership of forcibly securing the signatures of the MLAs in support of the chief minister. Other dissident MLAs, whose number is not more than 40 at the moment, feel that the continuation of Antulay in office will enormously erode the ruling party's base in Maharashtra because the chief minister has lost the moral support of the people and the bureaucracy.For the last 30 days, all important transactions have been at a standstill at the Mantralaya. Though two Cabinet meetings took place no important decision was taken.Maintaining an uncharacteristically low profile, the once flamboyant chief minister attended office for considerably less time each day than he had in the past. Said a junior officer in the Home Ministry: "It is not that all work has come to a standstill, some routine work is going on as usual. But there has been no decision making during the last month." The analysis at the state Mantralaya reflected the indecisiveness in New Delhi.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 31, 2013 10:36 IST--- ENDS ---

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Governor Mehra, Indira Gandhi and A.R. Antulay: A brief encounter

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