Press Briefing
Friday, 11th November 2011
Shri Manish
Tewari addressed the media today.
On the question of the reaction of the Congress
party on the involvement of Shri Mahipal Maderna
in Bhanwari Devi case and whether he is still
the primary member of the Congress party, Shri
Manish Tewari said as far as my knowledge goes
the investigation in the case is on by the CBI
and insofar as his primary membership of the
party is concerned, after getting the desired
information from the General Secretary In-charge
I will get back to you.
To a question over the demand of the BJP of the
resignation of the CM of Rajasthan over Bhanwari
Devi case, Shri Tewari said that the role of the
opposition has always been irresponsible and we
do not want to dignify it by commenting on it.
Shri Tewari further added that as you are aware,
there is an investigation which is under way. We
do not second guess the investigations. It has
never been our endeavor to impede the process of
any investigation. I think it would be
appropriate to allow the investigation to play
itself out.
On the question of the statement of Shri Nitin
Gadkari that after filing of the charge sheet in
2-G scam case, the accused should have got the
bail as has also been said by Shri Digviajaya
Singh of the Congress party, Shri Tewari said we
have already reacted that according to the
jurisprudence of the criminal cases, it should
be either bail or no jail. We feel that this
jurisprudence of the criminal case should be
honoured.
On the question of the standoff between BCCI and
the Sports Ministry in the matter of Sports
Bill, Shri Tewari said if BCCI has taken some
stand on the same, it would be appropriate if
the matter is sorted out between the BCCI and
the Sports Ministry.
To a question on the statement of Shri Nitish
Kumar that he does not need a certificate from
Team Anna in the matter of drafting of Lokpal
Bill in Bihar state and also to the position of
the Congress party in the matter of transfer of
the officer investigating the mining case in
Karnataka, Shri Tewari said first of all I think
insofar as the Chief Minister of Bihar is
concerned, his statement is self speaking. I
think at the root of his entire assertion here
is the fact the elected representatives owe
their accountability to the people. So,
therefore, to that extent I think whatever Mr.
Nitish Kumar has said, the essence of it is
absolutely correct that in the final analysis
the representatives elected to the State
assemblies or to the parliament owe their
accountability to the people and I think people
are the final arbiter insofar their performance
is concerned. Insofar as your second question is
concerned, it is indeed a piquant situation you
have the BJP which is taking out its ‘Jan Chetna
Yatras’. Then you have the specter of the
government in Uttarakhand indulging in gimmickry
in terms of trying to surmount various
allegations of corruption against their five
year regime by passing some version of Lokyukata.
Then you simultaneously and concurrently have a
situation whereby the BJP government in
Karnataka is trying to subvert and derail the
investigations which are taking place not only
qua Mr. BS Yeddyurappa but qua various other
Ministers of the government. In fact the officer
that you referred to, if my information is
correct, is singularly responsible for actually
initiating investigation against a host of BJP
functionaries in Karnataka but this is not an
isolated case. In Punjab where you have
BJP-Akali Dal government, you have seen that the
IG Lokayukta Mr. Gakhar who was investigating
into the entire transport scam in Punjab whereby
the entire fleet of private buses is ostensibly
owned and operated by one very prominent family
of the State, was summarily transferred. This is
the question which the BJP has to answer as to
why there is such a huge gap between what they
preach and what they implement. You have all the
sanctimonious yatras taking place all over the
country while in substance. If you evaluate
their actions, every attempt is being made in
BJP ruled states to subvert and derail the
investigations which have the potential of
embarrassing both the BJP functionaries and the
Ministers.
On another question on Telengana, Shri Tewari
said the appropriate person to respond to this
question would be the General Secretary
In-charge because it is a sensitive issue. You
have the General Secretary who is a senior
Minister in the government who is seized of the
matter would be the appropriate person to
respond to your question insofar as the
Telengana is concerned. Insofar as second
question regarding State Reorganization
Commission is concerned, once we firm up our
position, we will definitely get back to you.
Shri Tewari further added that I am not
cognizant of what Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad has said
or has not said but since you have asked this
question, I will ascertain from him what exactly
the substance was, then only I will get back to
you.
On the question of the reaction of the Congress
party on the bail-out package proposed to be
given to Kingfisher Airlines by the Civil
Aviation Ministry, Shri Tewari said it raises
very philosophical construct whether the
government should be walking the extra mile to
be bailing out the private companies and I think
since the question has been specifically in the
context of the Civil Aviation Ministry or a
particular Airlines, it would be better if this
question is answered either by the Civil
Aviation Minister or his Ministry. Insofar as
conceptual question is concerned, once we firm
up our position on this, we will get back to
you.
On the question of the reaction of the Congress
party over the agitation of the sugar cane
growers in Sangli in Maharashtra agitating for
higher support price for their product, Shri
Tewari said I think without going into the
specifics as to why the state government is
responding or not responding, I think a larger
question is that when the government determines
the minimum support price, it has to juxtapose
it against what is ultimately going to be the
selling price, insofar as consumers are
concerned, of the final product and this has
always been a very fine balance which the
government has to maintain because there are
contentious claims on either side and that is
why you have a Bureau of Cost and Prices in the
Ministry of Agriculture which tries to balance
the imperatives of the farmers in terms of what
their production cost is which eventually is
what the consumers will have to pay for the
final product when it is sold in the market. The
UPA government during the last six years has
been trying to give maximum relief to the
farmers in terms of support price. I think the
Maharashtra government will also take judicious
decision keeping all these imperatives in mind.
To another question of larger role of Shri Rahul
Gandhi in the near future, Shri Tewari said
General Secretary In-charge of Media Department
Shri Janardan Dwivedi has already responded to
this query and I think I have nothing more to
add or subtract from that.
On the reaction of the Congress party over Dr.
Manmohan Singh calling PM of Pakistan a man of
peace, Shri Tewari said I think you need to
really address the whole issue in a more
holistic perspective. I do want to go far back
but commencing from the Prime Ministership of
Shri I.K. Gujral to the Prime Ministership of
Mr. A.B. Vajpayee and then to the tenure of Dr.
Manmohan Singh, there has been a consistent
attempt which has been made by India to engage
with Pakistan notwithstanding the provocations
and at times the terrorist actions which have
clearly emanated from Pakistani soil and the
reason for that is very clear that the
government seeks to deepen the peace
constituency in Pakistan. There is absolutely no
denying the fact that the Pakistani defence
establishment has a certain agenda and that
agenda is definitely not to promote a friendly
relationship with India but then there are
sections in Pakistan who do believe like the
Indian leadership that the way forward for South
Asia is to have a peaceful, stable and
prosperous region. So under these circumstances
if Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has decided
to engage with the civilian leadership of the
Pakistan to try and widen the constituency which
thinks that the way forward for South Asia is
through abandoning violent proxies, I do not
think the Prime Minister erred and I would like
to say by caveating that in no way it means that
the UPA government or the Congress party
detracts from the responsibility which is
intrinsic to Pakistan insofar as stopping
activities is concerned and bringing those
people to book who have been involved or
indulging in terrorist activities.
To another question over Shri Rahul Gandhi
launching election campaign in Uttar Pradesh
from 14th November 2011, is it something new or
the old ‘aam-aadmi’ slogan, Shri Tewari said the
people of Uttar Pradesh has been witnessing the
mis-administration of the present day government
and the Congress party is trying to provide an
alternative to the people there. We would
request the media to please wait till 14th
November when everything will be clear.
(Tom Vadakkan)
Secretary, AICC
