The CPI(M) on Tuesday said Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh was factually incorrect in blaming the Left parties for “legislative bulldozing” of the AIIMS Amendment Bill aimed at removing P Venugopal from the post of AIIMS director.

“The fact is that the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha and adopted there first. Subsequently, it was taken up in the Rajya Sabha. The Samajwadi Party should have demanded that the Bill be sent to the Standing Committee in the Lok Sabha itself. As far as the CPI(M) is concerned, we got a clause deleted which would have detracted from the autonomy of the institute. There was no question, therefore, of the Bill being referred to the Standing Committee in the Rajya Sabha. Amar Singh should check up these facts before making such statements,” said Basudeb Acharia, the CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha, in a statement issued in response to the story published in The Indian Express.

On Monday, Singh had accused the Left parties of being responsible for the AIIMS Amendment Bill’s adoption in the Rajya Sabha without referring it to the Standing Committee. Singh, who also chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, said he had reservations about the Bill, but the Left along with the Congress and DMK supported it and prevented it from being referred to the panel.