Selected Columns
Ozawa's resignation at strong urging of PM will lessen his influence on DPJ
Ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa's decision to resign at the strong urging of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will inevitably lessen his influence on the party.
"I'll step down, but I'm afraid that I have to ask you to also resign as secretary-general," DPJ leader Hatoyama quoted himself as telling Ozawa.
Hatoyama said Ozawa complied with his request saying, "I understand."
The prime minister made the revelations when he announced his intention to resign during a general meeting of DPJ legislators at the Diet on Wednesday morning.
Following the agreement, the DPJ's Standing Officers Council, its executive office, decided Wednesday to resign en masse.
Supporters of Ozawa had believed that he could maintain his influence on the party and the entire coalition administration if he resigned along with Hatoyama. They noted that it would not mean he stepped down to assume responsibility for a political funding scandal involving his fund management body.
However, Hatoyama told the meeting that Ozawa would not automatically step down as a result of the prime minister's resignation, emphasizing that both Ozawa and himself must take the blame.
"Let's make the DPJ a thoroughly clean party," the prime minister told his fellow DPJ legislators.
Hatoyama's attempt to lessen Ozawa's influence on the DPJ by holding him responsible for his own scandal is expected to be successful to a certain extent.
However, DPJ members view it as difficult to completely eliminate Ozawa's influence, as he has controlled the DPJ since he became its leader in April 2006 and heads a major intraparty faction comprised of about 150 members of both chambers.
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) June 2, 2010