Welcome Cong gag order: Digvijay

Two days after the Congress issued a circular directing its office-bearers not to speak out of turn and restrict themselves...

Two days after the Congress issued a circular directing its office-bearers not to speak out of turn and restrict themselves to their area of responsibility,senior leader Digvijay Singh,whose controversial remarks on different issues were said to be the genesis of this gag order,welcomed it saying that whatever issues he was talking about fell in his area of responsibility as general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

In this context,Singh justified his criticism of the governments anti-Naxal policy,saying that UP also has Maoist problem. As for his remarks about Batla House police encounter in Delhi,he said that those arrested were from Azamgarh.

I faithfully follow the directive of the AICC and never deviate from it. Every Congressman should follow the directions of the AICC as honestly as possible, Singh told reporters on Thursday. I welcome the circular. Everyone should follow it. Whatever I say and whatever I do,I try to be as honest as possible in following the directive of the party.

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Asked if he wanted to join the Union Cabinet,the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said that he would not contest any parliamentary elections till November 2013. If the party nominates me to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,I will do that,but will not contest Assembly elections. He also dismissed suggestions that he was eyeing Home Ministry. It is an imaginary issue. I am not in the race for any Cabinet berth, he said.

Asked about his controversial newspaper article in which he had criticised Home Minister P Chidambaram,the AICC general secretary said,I stand by whatever I have said in the newspaper article or otherwise. He maintained that his remarks on the governments anti-Naxal policy came in a context where the entire debate was going astray. Half the people said they were revolutionaries and half of the people said they were terrorists. Both are wrong, said Singh.

Asked about his visit to Azamgarh to meet the families of those arrested in connection with terror incidents,Singh said,No one in the AICC had disowned what I had said. I went there as AICC in charge of the state.