PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh: A sense of deja vu

Manmohan Singh was the only cabinet colleague who drove into former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s Motilal Nehru Road residence on October 12, 2000, when Rao was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by trial judge, Ajit Bharihoke, in the JMM bribery case. Now, Manmohan is in the dock, the second PM in the country’s history to stand trial in a corruption case, and there is a sense of déjà vu.

Soon after demitting office in May, 1996, Rao was forced to fight three cases: Lakhubhai Pathak cheating case, St Kitts forgery case and JMM bribery scandal. Courts of trial judges Prem Kumar and Ajit Bharihoke summoned the former PM and a special trial room had to be set up at Vigyan Bhawan after the Special Protection Group pleaded against his appearance at the crowded Tiz Hazari Court complex.

Rao had bitterly fought all the way up till the Supreme Court every inch in each one of the case. And Rao’s legal hassles actually helped the political career of at least a couple of lawyers who soon became Members of Parliament.

Of all the cases, the most serious one against Rao was the allegation that he bought four Jarkhand Mukti Morch MPs to win a trust vote on July 26, 1993. One of the MPs, Shailendra Mahato, turned approver and his confession proved costly at the trial stage for Rao. But the Delhi high court acquitted Rao finding Mahato’s statements unreliable.

The Lakhubai Pathak cheating case and St Kitts had more to do with the controversial godman Chandraswamy than Rao. He was acquitted of all cases by 2003 and died the next year, unsung.