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Sinha fully aware of UTI crisis: Opposition

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Aug. 10

UNIT Trust of India's US-64 issue is refusing to get knocked off Parliament's agenda. After a brief lull for a few days, the matter once again rocked both the Houses with the Opposition benches accusing the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, of being f ully aware of the impending crisis in the Trust contrary to his claims of being kept in the dark by the UTI management.

The charges and counter-charges that followed after the Congress members raised the issue during Zero Hour led to an adjournment of the Lok Sabha. The issue was also raised by members in the Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour.

Demanding the resignation of the Finance Minister, the Congress members pointed out reports in the media that the former UTI Chairman, Mr P.S. Subramanyam, had written letters to the Finance Minister on three different occasions and had also met him on J uly 2, the day UTI announced the freeze on sales and repurchase of units under US-64.

Raising the UTI issue at the beginning of the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, the Congress member, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, mentioned that Mr Subramanyam had written letters to the Ministry on May 18, June 15 and June 30. He pointed out that Mr Sinha had c laimed that he had not received any communication from the UTI Chairman.

On his part, a visibly disturbed Finance Minister retorted to the charges by saying that it was unfair on the part of the Opposition to seek explanations on the UTI issue at this point after having blocked his efforts to reply to the adjournment motion i n the Lok Sabha.

Amidst the pandemonium, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi, said that the UTI issue need not be brought up again and again since it had already been discussed in the House. He also mentioned that this was also being looked into by the Joint Parlia mentary Committee (JPC).

The CPI(M) member, Mr Somnath Chatterji, also questioned how Mr Subramanyam gave a clean chit to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) even as the matter was being investigated by the JPC.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Congress member, Mr Kapil Sibal, pointed out that Mr Subramanyam had mentioned in his bail application that he had met Mr Sinha on July 2. This, he said, ran contrary to Mr Sinha's statement that had he been in the know of things, he could have advised Mr Subramanyam on how he should go about handling the crisis.