PC, Sushma at war over CVC
Home minister P. Chidambram and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday renewed their verbal dual over the issue of CVC P.J. Thomas’ appointment after a brief rapprochement on the matter. While the home minister claimed that Ms Swaraj was “tying herself in knots” by making “thoughtless allegations” against him, the Leader of the Opposition termed Mr Chidambram’s statement an “afterthought”.
Mr Chidambaram, in a written statement, accused Ms Swaraj of making thoughtless allegations and “tying herself in knots” by levelling the frivolous charge that he had misled the panel which selected Mr Thomas as CVC.
The home minister also chose to reiterate his point that the selection committee, consisting of them and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was aware of the palmolein case and that no sanction for prosecution of Mr Thomas had been granted since 1999.
Rebutting Ms Swaraj’s charge that he misled the committee by informing it that Mr Thomas had been acquitted in the palmolein case, Mr Chidambaram said: “I take exception to the statement by Sushma Swaraj... that I had ‘misled the selection committee’ and told the committee that Mr Thomas had been ‘acquitted’. She was ‘tying herself in knots’ by making ‘thoughtless allegations’.”
Elaborating further on the issue, he said, “Firstly, if no sanction for prosecution had been granted since 1999 against Mr Thomas (as admitted by her) how could the case have proceeded to trial or ended in an acquittal of Thomas? Secondly, if the Supreme Court had stayed the trial of the case (as admitted by her), is it not self-evident that the case was pending and nobody could have been either acquitted or convicted?”
The home minister said, “I reiterate that the committee was aware of the palmolein case; that no sanction for prosecution of Mr Thomas had been granted since 1999; that the case was pending in the trial court; that the Supreme Court had stayed the trial of the case; and that the then CVC had granted vigilance clearance in respect of Thomas.”
Mr Chidambaram requested Ms Swaraj to respect the rule of sub-judice and allow the Supreme Court to decide the case.
Post new comment