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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
The Justice K Venkatswami Commission's request for yet another extension to complete its report was instrumental in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee deciding to re-induct George Fernandes in his Cabinet, a top government official said on Monday.
The judicial commission probing the corruption scandal exposed by tehelka.com was given one extension after the initial period of four months in which it was expected to complete its report.
But a few days ago Justice Venkatswami told the government that the commission would need a second extension to complete its work.
The official pointed out that after receiving the commission's request for another extension, Vajpayee summoned a meeting of select Cabinet colleagues, including Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani.
At the meeting, Vajpayee told them that Fernandes's re-induction could not be held hostage to bureaucratic red tape. This was an apparent allusion to the commission's inability to complete its work even after so many months.
In fact, after the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Vajpayee went so far as to say that there was no case against Fernandes. "He resigned on his own," the prime minister claimed. "Nothing incriminating against him has come to light during the proceedings of the Venkatswami Commission. Even the notice given by the commission to him does not relate to any charges."
Aware of the prime minister's determination to rehabilitate Fernandes, both External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Rural Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu spoke glowingly of him as the "most honest and competent defence minister".
He indicated that Vajpayee also handed out a veiled warning to some outspoken MPs of his own Bharatiya Janata Party who had been objecting to Fernandes's re-induction.
Vajpayee 'beamed' a general message to his party MPs that they should desist from interfering in the business of Cabinet expansion or reshuffle, which is his prerogative, the official contended.
Now that the prime minister has effected his minor Cabinet expansion, the Venkataswami Commission is likely to get the extension it wanted, he added.
The Tehelka Defence Scandal: The complete coverage
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