Sonia says desist,but Congress steps up attack against civil society representatives

At the AICC briefing,party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan steered clear of the Noida land allotment controversy surrounding eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan,who is a member of the Joint Committee on the Lokpal Bill,and his lawyer son Jayant.

“That is a matter for them to answer and not for us,” she said in reply to a volley of questions on the issue. Asked whether Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan should withdraw from the Joint Committee after the controversy,she said it was for the government and them to decide. The Congress has no view on this,she said.

Speaking separately,Singh dismissed as “absolutely rubbish” the contention of the civil society representatives that the Congress was targetting them. He said that Sonia Gandhi and Congress party does not believe in it.

“I have not cast aspersions on them. There should be absolute transparency in what they are doing. If they demand transparency,they should give transparency as well,” he said.

“The background picture of ‘Bharatmata’ (put up on the dais where Hazare went on fast) resemble with Bharatmata which RSS usually puts in their background. Then Mahatma Gandhi’s photograph was also missing from the background,” he said.

The AICC General Secretary also dismissed allegations about the Congress trying to divide the civil society group. “Who is dividing? The first person who objected to the father and the son (Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan) to be in the drafting committee was Baba Ramdev and not Digvijay Singh”,he said.

He also said that Gandhi was the first leader in the country who openly supported Hazare’s movement against corruption and the Congress would go to any extent to see that corruption is minimised.

Natarajan debunked as “frivolous and absolutely baseless” Hazare’s charge about the smear campaign. “There is no need for the Congress to discredit anybody. It just shows complete bankruptcy of ideas,” she said.

“It is between those levelling the charges and those against the charges that have been levelled. We have nothing to say,” she said when asked whether the party endorsed the allegations levelled by Digvijay Singh against Hazare and his colleagues.

Maintaining that Congress-led UPA has taken tough action in corruption issues,Singh said “have you seen the action taken by UPA government against its own ministers,Chief Ministers and officers? Give me one example where corporate honchos have been sent to jail…what more can a government do.”

Natarajan also found nothing wrong in Congress leaders reacting over the issue. “Every citizen has the right to express their views and opinion.”

When asked about UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna’s comment that persons whose credentials are being doubted by people should themselves withdraw themselves from exercise like drafting of Lokpal Bill,Natarajan sought to distance from the remarks.

Natarajan said that she as a Congress spokesperson was giving the stand of Congress.