A day after the CBI court summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an accused in the coal scam, the Congress threw its weight behind him and vowed to challenge the order in the Supreme Court on the fact that the CBI had earlier ruled out his involvement in any wrongdoing. On Thursday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi consulted lawyers and then led a ‘march of support’ from party headquarters to Singh’s residence to express solidarity with him.
The Congress party has also accused the Government of maintaining a “studied silence” and not challenging the summons. “It is very difficult in view of the tragic silence of the BJP. The CBI is the executive arm of the Government.
The CBI has said that there is no change, no ground to take criminal action. But the Government must speak up and say we stand by the CBI’s report. If CBI has already said that there is no criminal case, Government must say its stands by the CBI’s report. Why is the Government reluctant to do thatIJ” questioned former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Responding to Congress barbs, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said it is not about questioning Dr Manmohan Singh’s integrity but his inaction. “The Government is not misusing any investigating agency. The Congress needs to explain to the country how all this happened. They should also take responsibility for this, only one individual cannot be blamed,” said Naidu.
Sonia Gandhi too declared that her party would fight the case with all legal means at their command. The party, which went in a huddle following the CBI court’s directive, has consulted legal experts on how to challenge the summons. Singh’s former Cabinet colleague and ex-law Minister Kapil Sibal along with Rajya Sabha member KTS Tulsi are likely to represent him in the Supreme Court. Chidambaram said he was confident that the summons against Singh will stand withdrawn after some time.
“We respect our judicial system, we respect our judges. In the past, courts have taken a misstep and stumbled. Numerous examples can be cited,” he said while expressing confidence that when Singh’s lawyers appear before court... and explain the facts and the circumstances of the case, the court itself will “review its decision and drop the proceedings against Singh.”
Terming the CBI courts summons as “outrageous”, Gandhi collected top ranks of the party at his headquarters at Akbar Road and nearly 100 party cadre marched up to Singh’s residence, which is nearly half a kilometer away from the party office. Several of Singh’s Cabinet colleagues P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni and Veerappa Moily were also present. This is one of those rare occasion when the top Congress ranks and Sonia Gandhi have taken to streets.
Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur received the leaders at his residence. Singh he said he was more than pleased and grateful. “The Congress party, Soniaji and all members of the working committee and senior leaders have come to my residence, expressed solidarity with me and that we will fight this case to the best of our ability,” said Singh.
“I was outraged at the news that summons had been served to Manmohan Singh. The former PM is known not only in our country but throughout the world as being a person of integrity and probity. We are here to offer our unstinted support, our solidarity. The Congress party is fully behind him. We shall fight this legally and with all our means at our command. We are sure, we are convinced that he will be vindicated,” Sonia Gandhi said.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, Congress should have shown this solidarity a decade ago while alleging that Congress did not follow the auction route in the allocation of coal blocks as recommended by Singh because the party had to extend favours to some companies.