Speculation grows that Hosokawa may be forced to resign
Speculation grows that Hosokawa may be forced to resign
By Susumu Sono
TOKYO (AFP): Speculation is mounting in the press and political circles that scandal-plagued Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa may be forced to resign in exchange for approval of the fiscal 1994 budget.
Political leaders have yet to say openly that such a deal is in the works, but it is being increasingly pointed out -- daily, in the case of the Mainichi newspaper -- that the dilemma facing Hosokawa closely resembles the situation preceding the fall of Noboru Takeshita, who resigned as premier in 1989.
Takeshita had to quit to take responsibility for a political stalemate arising from his alleged involvement in a stocks-for- favors scandal, whereas questions over loans and stock deals made by Hosokawa are paralyzing parliament now.
When Hosokawa appeared for budget hearings last week, opposition members would only talk about a questionable 1982 loan he took from the Tokyo Sagawa Kybuin trucking company, which has since been enmeshed in a massive political bribery scandal, and a convoluted share purchase which yielded a huge profit.
Hosokawa was unable to convince the opposition he had ever repaid the 100 million yen loan (US$ 960,000), and the budget has remained stalled since March 10, even though Japan's new fiscal year started last Friday and the government has been forced to live by a 50-day provisional budget.
Observers recall that Takeshita announced in April 1989 his readiness to resign and three days later his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) forced budget bills through parliament, after it too had used a provisional budget.
"Takeshita resigned for the budget. Hosokawa should resign if he wants to have the bills passed through parliament," LDP president Yohei Kono was quoted by Mainichi as telling his aides.
Even Hosokawa's coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party, have suggested the prime minister's days may be numbered. Party secretary general Wataru Kubo said on television Sunday that the current situation was intolerable.
"The cabinet remains unable to fulfill its responsibility for solving a lot of issues," Kubo said. "We will be forced to study something."
LDP and Japan Communist Party (JCP) legislators suspected that Hosokawa might have concealed a profit of 50 million yen by trading the NTT shares in the name of his father.
Shuzo Fujiki, an investment consultant who helped the reported stock deal, told a news conference recently that he thought the trading was by the prime minister himself.
The opposition parties have indicated that they would continue boycotting the lower house budget committee session unless Hosokawa dispelled the suspicion about the loan and stock trading, which reportedly yielded him a 50 million yen ($ 480,000) windfall.
Hosokawa said the trading in telecommunications giant NTT was done by his father-in-law, but LDP and Japan Communist Party deputies have said they suspected that it was indeed Hosokawa who profited.
In the face of strong objections from the LDP and the JCP to smooth parliament business, the Hosokawa cabinet has compiled a 50-day provisional budget for fiscal 1994, which started last Friday.
Bills on the stop-gap budget for the government were given parliament's final approval last Friday.
The Takeshita cabinet was also forced to compile a similar 50- day provisional budget in 1989 before its mass resignation.
The secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, the largest partner in Hosokawa's seven-party coalition cabinet, indicated on a television program Sunday that the ruling camp might force the fiscal 1994 budget bills through parliament.
LDP secretary general Yoshiro Mori said on the same program that Hosokawa would have to take "big responsibility" if parliamentary passage of the government's fiscal 1994 budget was delayed further.
Hosokawa came to power last August, following an LDP setback in general elections for the 511-member powerful lower house of parliament.
The elections in July ended the LDP's 38-year grip on Japanese politics, allowing the formation of Hosokawa's coalition cabinet.