Politician-business nexus in Cabinet, alleges Karat-17 Dec, 2010,

17 Dec, 2010, 03.20AM IST,ET Bureau

Politician-business nexus in Cabinet, alleges Karat


(GOOD TO SEE A 'LAHER' AGAINST CORRUPTION. I WISH,FROM TOP TO BOTTOM IF IT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE'S THINKING TO SAY NO TO GIVING OR TAKING BRIBE OR ANY KIND OF CORRUPTION,IT WILL BE GREAT SERVICE TO SOCIETY. CULPRITS NEED TO BE PUNISHES!!!...VIBHA)


Lashing out at the big business-politician-bureaucrat nexus, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat demanded that action also be taken against the corporates who suborned and bribed. He raised a spate of questions on Mr Sibal’s moves — What is the need for an internal enquiry committee when already notice has been issued to 85 companies asking why their licences should not be cancelled? Why is the minister not categorical about declaring that licences will be cancelled of all those companies that have adopted illegal means? Why is the minister stating that auction of the spectrum may not be the best way forward?

“In all this we are seeing the now familiar pattern —- a smokescreen to see that the main culprits, corporates, are let off the hook. The real reason why the government does not want a joint parliamentary committee is because such an enquiry will show how the entire system has been manipulated by the nexus which gets policies formulated and implemented for their benefit,” Mr Karat said.

He said this spate of corruption was not just a manifestation of the venality of certain politicians, or of some corporate or the other. “The rot goes much deeper and it is systemic. Such corruption in high places is not a new phenomenon. It has been growing exponentially since the 1990s when liberalisation took off,” he said in an article in party mouthpiece People’s Democracy.

Alleging that illegal money generated by the corrupt big business-politician-bureaucrat nexus wa flowing into the political system, he said there was a direct link between this corruption and the illegal money being used on a large scale in elections. “The recent revelations have confirmed the hard truth. The prime minister presides over a cabinet in which some are advocates of certain business interests and some are businessmen themselves. A few are lawyers who have represented the very corporates with whom they have to deal with in the portfolios they look after,” the Marxist leader said.

He attacked both the Congress and the BJP saying both have the same record when it comes to corruption. Alleging that the grand old party has been steeped in the corrupt nexus with big business he recalled that the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the JMM bribery case during the no-confidence motion moved in the Lok Sabha in August 1993 had listed the bribes handed over to the minister for petroleum, Satish Sharma, by the big business houses like the Ambanis, Essar, Videocon and others. All the accused were acquitted in the case.

About the NDA regime, he said favouritism shown to big business companies in the disinvestment policies of public sector companies, the telecom sector, the sale of petrol pumps and gas agencies and the corruption associated with defence deals were of the same pattern. He also mentioned the Bellary mining mafia and the land scam allegations in Karnataka.

The CPI national council, in the meanwhile, issued a statement saying lobbying involving politicians, corporate houses and even journalists was getting institutionalized. “Though it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to pick ministers and allot portfolios, during the formation of the UPA II cabinet in 2009, these lobbyists played prominent role with the evil intention of having pliable personnel at the helm of affairs to loot the country’s wealth. A Raja’s appointment as Telecommunication minister is the glaring example of such evil impact on the functioning of the Manmohan Singh government.

The left parties along with other non-UPA, non-NDA parties will be holding rallies in six state capitals as part of the anti-corruption campaign.