No question of early polls, says Digvijay Singh
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh says he will continue to defend the indefensible, in an interview on IBN7’s Teekhi Baat.
Excerpts:
Two ministers have gone. Will this government run in the same manner that it has? Will ministers come and go.
The Congress has not spared anybody. Be it allies, our ministers, chief ministers, big officers or officers of big corporates.
But you remove them only when the public pressure mounts. For one week you defended Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal.
Regarding Ashwani, I’ve said the prosecution decides on the CBI’s lawyer.
But the CBI is not under the law ministry, it is answerable to the DoPT.
Has the law minister asked the CBI to implicate some falsely and spare somebody? Only if that is the case, can it be called an ‘intervention’.
Then why was he removed?
Though there is a provision (for the CBI to consult the law ministry), the leadership did not approve of what he did. I respect the Supreme Court very much, but the kind of off- the-cuff observations they make...are they right? If they want to write, issue an order, which we can appeal against.
But the director has endorsed the remarks.
The CBI is also accountable to someone.
You’ll agree that the Supreme Court has more credibility than the political leadership.
I’m not talking about credibility. Who is the Supreme Court answerable to? To the constitution. Can Supreme Court make law? Didn’t Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan say on record that Supreme Court judges are corrupt.
He spoke about retired ones.
They have said about sitting judges. If this had been said by a politician, he would have been facing a contempt of court case.
Your two ministers were removed after SC comments. They could have been removed earlier.
Bansal’s case is not in the Supreme Court. Even today I say no quid-pro-quo on Bansal’s part has been proved.
He said he had offered to resign a week ago. Why didn’t you take the moral high ground?
This decision is taken by the High Command. Whom to keep and whom not is the Prime Minister’s call.
Is it Sonaiji’s right
No, it is not even Soniaji’s right.
I don’t want to go into the details. But when there is no prime facie CBI case against Bansal or Ashwani, couldn’t you have kept them?
It is clear. All these decisions are taken by the Prime Minister.
Doesn’t Soniaji have a say?
I don’t want to get into this discussion.
It has been written in newspapers that Soniaji didn’t want Bansal or Ashwani as ministers. Even then the PM made them ministers. She made a request, but the PM did not want to remove them. Finally she persisted, which means something is going on.
Your sources are better than mine.
Now with Ashwani’s resignation, the BJP will demand that the PM should resign.
Does the CBI has any evidence linking the PM or ministers to any quid pro quo?
But you are not answering why you removed him if he did not do anything.
His was a technical mistake. Maybe that is why he was removed.
But the presence of Joint Secretaries of the PMO was also a technical mistake. You say the PM had no knowledge of it.
Is there any written order by the PM that the Joint Secretaries should go.
The government is not functioning. Many bills are pending. No constitution amendment could be brought. Even the Food Bill could not get through.
Won’t you ask this question to Sushma Swaraj?
Certainly. The BJP had said if Bansal resigned, the House would function.
They had the condition that the PM should resign.
Don’t you feel the government should go for elections earlier when the House is not able to function.
Even when we had 450 members, the Opposition didn’t let the House function.
After which you lost.
The ruling party and the opposition party have equal responsibility to ensure that Parliament functions.
So you won’t call for early elections.
It’s clear when the term is till May 2014.
You are known as a political guru, but Rahul Gandhi said A K Antony is his political guru.
Antony became Chief Minister in 1977. I was then an MLA.
Age difference would be four or five years.
I have one-fourth experience of what Antonyji has. I will not contest Vidhan Sabha elections and will not be in state politics again.
You will always be defending the indefensible at the centre.
I will do what the party orders me to.
Thank you for coming to our studio.
Thank you very much!
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