Swamy's first piece of advice to Vajpayee: keep Hegde out of Cabinet
Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy
today hoped that Prime Minister-designate A B Vajpayee would not
allot key portfolios like external affairs or defence to Lok Shakthi
president Ramakrishna Hegde.
Talking to newsmen in Madras, he said such a decision would
embarrass the country and the governing coalition as Hegde was
embroiled in a number of lawsuits.
Dr Swamy, who had played a key role in bringing down the Hegde
ministry in Karnataka in the late 1980s, said Hegde had been
indicted by the Justice Kuldip Singh commission in a land scam on
the basis of his memorandum in 1988.
After the Commission's report was tabled in Parliament, the then
prime minister V P Singh had obtained Hegde's resignation as
deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in 1990, he claimed.
Dr Swamy said he had filed a contempt petition against Hegde for
indulging in a vilification campaign against Justice Kuldip Singh,
and the case was listed for a final hearing tomorrow.
Referring to the dispute over the water level in the Periyar
dam, Dr Swamy hoped the Vajpayee government would ensure that the
water level in the dam was maintained at 152 feet as against 136 feet
now, since the repair work had been completed and the Central
Water Commission had certified its safety.
This would irrigate 25,000 hectares in Madurai, Periyakulam and
Sivaganga, he added.
Dr Swamy alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was
responsible for his exclusion from the Vajpayee ministry.
UNI
Elections '98
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