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Mystery over Kumar's resignation ends

The mystery surrounding the resignation of Union Minister of State for Finance, Banking and Revenue R K Kumar from the Union council of ministers has ended with Kumar clarifying that he had submitted his resignation as early as May 9.

In a statement issued in Madras, where he is being treated at a private hospital, Kumar said he submitted his resignation to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha on May 9 due to health reasons. He said he was suffering from diabetes for more than 20 years and it had become so acute in the last one month that he could not discharge his duties.

He said he had appealed to Jayalalitha to forward his resignation to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when she called on him at the hospital on May 20.

The statement ended the speculation triggered by his earlier refusal to confirm or deny reports that he had resigned from the Vajpayee ministry.

He declined to talk to journalists and did not allow them inside his hospital room. His attendant quoted him as saying that he would not be able to meet them because of ill-health. He promised to meet them in a couple of days.

The prime minister earlier told a television channel that Kumar's resignation was forwarded to President K R Narayanan.

The President accepted Kumar's resignation after his return from a Kerala tour on Wednesday night, according to a Rashtrapati Bhawan communique.

Kumar's resignation comes just a week before the presentation of the Union Budget.

Kumar is the second AIADMK minister to resign from the Vajpayee cabinet. Sedapatti Muthiah resigned last month when a Madras court framed charges against him in a corruption case.

Kumar, a Rajya Sabha member, was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning following complaints of chest pain and blood sugar. There have been reports that he has been discharged from the hospital and readmitted again. Hospital authorities had been asked to tell the media that he was not present there.

According to the hospital authorities, he was so weak that he could not be disturbed. A huge 'No visitors' signboard was seen pasted on the door of his room. His attendant, who was sitting in front of the room, said no one had visited him after AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha called on him on Wednesday evening. Not a single AIADMK member was seen near the room.

Amidst speculation that she had summoned him to express her displeasure over his functioning, she called on him at the hospital on Wednesday. Unconfirmed reports said she asked him to step down for his alleged failure to prevent the Enforcement Directorate from investigating a new foreign exchange violation case against her friend, Sasikala Natarajan.

Two months into office, Kumar was not able to speed up the disposal of cases against the AIADMK leader and her associates, party sources said. "If this is the status of Amma's cases, what about the common man?" asked one AIADMK leader.

Jayalalitha is also said to have not approved of Kumar's proximity to a Bombay-based industrial group. The proximity dates back many years and is well known, yet it seems to have become a bone of contention lately. Party insiders say that the industrial group intervened with Kumar on behalf of a former Union minister from Tamil Nadu. This upset Jayalalitha further.

According to these sources, Kumar's hands seem to have been tied after the controversial mass transfer of income-tax officers effected by him last fortnight. Oral instructions seem to have been passed down the bureaucratic line that all major decisions taken by him should be brought to the notice of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha or the Prime Minister's Office.

Kumar also faced stiff resistance from the bureaucracy at every step. Says one AIADMK leader, "The bureaucrats are peeved at the mass transfer of IT officials. And given Ms Jayalalitha's temperament and unmentioned threats to withdraw support to the government, no bureaucrat wants to take any controversial or risky decision, particularly in these days of judicial activism."

A city-based chartered accountant and a trusted Jayalalitha lieutenant, 53-year-old Kumar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1996. He was handpicked by Jayalalitha to man the plum portfolios of finance and revenue when the BJP-led coalition government assumed office at the Centre in March.

Within a few weeks of his taking over, controversy dogged Kumar in the wake of the mass transfer of income-tax department officials including those who were dealing with Jayalalitha's income-tax cases.

Jayalalitha is also said to be unhappy with her other two ministers at the Centre. While Law Minister M Thambidurai too has failed to live up to her expectations -- he is also in charge of company affairs -- Minister of State for Personnel K R Janarthanam seems to feel there is little elbow room for him to manoeuvre under a larger-than-life Home Minister in L K Advani. Both ministers too face Kumar's problems of bureaucratic 'non-co-operation'.

UNI, N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

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