This Article is From Feb 04, 2011

Sushma declines to comment on Chidambaram's charge

Sushma declines to comment on Chidambaram's charge
Nagapattinam: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today declined to comment on Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's charge that she was making "thoughtless allegations" on the issue of P J Thomas' appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.

"The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. It is not proper for me to comment on the matter," she told reporters here.

Chidambaram had accused Swaraj of making "thoughtless allegations" and "tying herself in knots" by leveling the charge that he had misled the panel, which selected Thomas as the CVC.

"I take exception to the statement by Sushma Swaraj that I had 'misled the selection committee' and told the committee that Thomas had been 'acquitted'," Chidambaram had said in a statement on Wednesday.

Swaraj had accused Chidambaram of informing the committee that Thomas had been acquitted in the Palmolein case.

Following this, she had asked whether Thomas was eligible even if he was acquitted in the case on the ground that the CVC must be an outstanding officer with impeccable integrity.

Asked about BJP's stand on the need for a JPC probe in the 2G spectrum scandal in the aftermath of former Telecom minister A Raja's arrest, Swaraj said the party was firm on
its demand for the same.

"We will continue to raise the need for a JPC and insist on that," she said.

The BJP leader was here to console the family members of a fisherman who was killed allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing off the Kodaikarai coast on January 22.
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