“Was it necessary for four ministers to go to airport?” asked the Congress Sandesh over the government’s decision to send the four ministers to Delhi airport to placate Baba Ramdev from sitting on a hunger strike at Ramlila grounds here.
“Was it necessary for four ministers to go to airport? It is the government’s duty to adopt positive attitude towards the demands of civil societies but this should be done in a manner that the dignity of the elected government and its rights are not violated,” the editorial in the latest issue of the party mouthpiece, whose editor is Anil Shastri, said. The Congress Sandesh is critical of the decision to send four ministers, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Kapil Sibal, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal and Mr Subodh Kant Sahay to the airport.
“There is a need to soon ratify the United Nations Convention on corruption. Congress is committed to bringing more transparency in public procurement and to ensuring that disinvestment of public utilities and allocation of public resources,” it said.
Incidentally, Mr Shastri had in a tweet said on June 4, “Indiraji or Rajivji would not have sent their ministers to airport to placate a ‘Baba’ arriving in a private jet.” Mr Shastri had then said “fighting corruption is all right and talking to people in this regard is also fine. But government’s dignity should not be put at stake. It must act without compromising with its dignity.” In another post on Twitter, Mr Shastri had slammed police crackdown at Ramlila Grounds saying it was “unfortunate and avoidable” adding it was the decision of the government and not the party. “What happened last night at Ramlila Grounds in Delhi was unfortunate and avoidable. It is Manmohan Singh govt. Was not a party decision,” he had tweeted.