Mahanta: Hunter & hunted

Guwahati/New Delhi, June 8: The Congress today asked Prafulla Kumar Mahanta not to step on its toes if he wanted the government to stay away from his.

Taking the former chief minister’s demand for President’s rule in Assam to heart, the government said it would ask the CBI to reopen its investigation into Mahanta’s alleged involvement in the letter of credit scam, circa 1990, and complete a prosecution that was planned but never happened.

Ministers and government spokesmen Himanta Biswa Sarma and Ripun Bora, neither of them known for being careful about choosing words, said the government would approach the CBI on the basis of a Supreme Court verdict that did away with the practice of seeking the governor’s sanction prosecute a public servant.

Former Governor S.K. Sinha had granted Mahanta immunity from prosecution in the letter of credit scam — involving misappropriation of crores of rupees through false bills — when he was the chief minister of the second AGP-led government.

The Congress’s announcement came within hours of Mahanta going ballistic against the Tarun Gogoi government in New Delhi.

Bora said the AGP (Pragatisheel) president — also the party’s lone MLA — should realise that “people who stay in glass houses must not throw stones at others”. If that were not banal enough, the minister said Mahanta would be in trouble “if the government opens its mouth”.

His colleague then spoke about the report of the inquiry into the “secret killings” that occurred during Mahanta’s second term as chief minister. “Once we make that report public, Mahanta’s political career and that of many of his then colleagues will be ruined,” Sarma said.

Neither of the ministers answered why it has taken the government so many months to reveal the contents of the report compiled by the Justice K.N. Saikia Commission.

Like he had done earlier in day, when he accused Gogoi of playing games with Ulfa and pushing Assam to the brink of lawlessness, Mahanta did not hold back while reacting to the Congress’s threats.

He said the government was “most welcome” to seek his prosecution. “I have nothing to hide and I am not scared of such threats.”

Mahanta, who has been rather lonely in political circles since being ousted from the AGP for indiscipline, said there was no justification in the government’s argument that talks with Ulfa could not be held now just because his erstwhile government failed to initiate a dialogue.

“The government should use its rapport with Ulfa to bring it to the negotiating table,” Mahanta said.

The former chief minister called on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Union home minister Shivraj Patil earlier this week to hand them a memorandum each.

He cited the postponement of elections to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, originally slated for June 12, as an example of the government’s inefficiency. “If the Gogoi government cannot hold elections in one district, how will it run the state?” he asked.

The elections were postponed after militants killed three Congress members of the council on Monday.