Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the issue concerns Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
New Delhi:
Congress said today that it would not be fair for them to comment on the controversy that erupted after former Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh accused Maharashtra’s Interior Minister Anil Deshmukh of bribery, while the PNC and the chief minister is investigating it.
Avoiding making a direct comment on the matter, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the issue concerns Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the PNC, as the minister in question is from that party.
Singhvi raised the issue of corruption charges against Karnataka’s Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to accuse the BJP of hypocrisy and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the matter.
He asked why the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, have not spoken a word on the corruption charge against Mr. Yediyurappa, even though there have been three high court rulings in this regard.
“We want Yediyurappa to resign immediately,” the congressional spokesman said.
On the events in Maharashtra, he said that the government of Maha Vikas Aghadi is one and the CPN leader, Sharad Pawar, is addressing the charges against Mr. Deshmukh, who belongs to that party.
“Sharad Pawar has commented on what essentially concerns a minister from that part of the coalition. I think it would not be fair for him to say anything, much of what (Sharad) Pawar has said in consultation with the prime minister,” he said.
“But whatever is left out, you should go to the Maharashtra Congress in charge, HK Patil,” he added.
Mainly, this issue concerns the PNC and the prime minister, Singhvi said. “The Aghadi government is one. Pawar has spoken, Patil will speak tomorrow. Please wait a little longer as you have received silence on the Yediyurappa issue.”
When asked about the BJP accusing Congress of hypocrisy for not speaking out on the Maharashtra issue, Mr. Singhvi said: “Has Modi made a comment on Yediyurappa, even after three briefings of mine? There have been none briefing or comment from him. The minister (Amit Shah) even bothered to talk about Yediyurappa. “
The congressional spokesman said Sharad Pawar will give a more detailed statement tomorrow and the prime minister is already investigating him.
“Which of these has happened to Mr. Modi qua Mr. Yediyurappa? He has become a ‘mauni baba“(silent saint) on this issue,” Singhvi said.
On the BJP’s accusation that Udhav Thackeray has lost the moral authority to govern, the leader of Congress said: “I will agree with him after the facts are known. But until then, replace the word Uddhav Thackeray with Yeddyurappa and, Please put the poster back in your room. I ask that you use the same phrase and put Yediyurappa’s name, as there are three Superior Court orders. “
Mr. Singhvi alleged that BS Yediyurappa has the guts to go to the Supreme Court to obtain a provisional warrant for not being arrested and is still “glued” to his seat.
“We haven’t even heard a whisper from anyone in the BJP lecturing us on morality every day. The contrast is clear,” he said.
“The hypocrisy and the double face is in fact underlined by the totally different conduct of the two parties,” he said.
Singhvi accused the Prime Minister of Karnataka of having crossed the lines of shame and argued that he had no morality left to retain the position when there are three orders of the High Court to try him under the Prevention of Corruption Law.
“We cannot allow political vulgarity to take us for granted. People’s indifference becomes a breeding ground for corruption and it is to surprise them of their indifference that we speak to them through the media,” he said.
“Is this the moral plane on which the prime minister can sit in his seat? Is this the morality of the prime minister who never asks him to leave? Is this the main position of the interior minister who does not dismiss him? Nelsonian blind eye of the party you belong to that will not touch you? Is this the naked and shameless lust for power that makes people stay and parties ignore everything? This is the worst way to breed corruption. ethical, unscrupulous and unreliable of the BJP, “said Singhvi.
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