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| Govt scraps move to appoint judge in Snoopgate | | | Agencies
New Delhi, May 5: Under pressure from its allies, the Congress-led UPA had to go on the backfoot over its much vaunted claims of appointing a judge to probe the "Snoopgate" case before result day, May 16.
The case, which alleges snooping of a young woman by Gujarat police allegedly at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has been at the centre of a controversy between the Congress and the BJP for months now but not much headway had been made in instituting the probe.
Questioning why the government was intent on doing so in the last throes of UPA II, both the NCP and the National Conference publicly opposed the move over the weekend.
Law minister Kapil Sibal as well as Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had stoked the snoopgate fires again and raised the hackles of the BJP, by insisting that the incumbent government could take decisions to implement a Cabinet decision, as long as it was in office.
Government sources said, "We have left the decision on appointing a judge to the next government." Confirming this, a senior Congress leader conceded that the party had not pursued the matter as efficiently as it should have.
Practically speaking, it is now upto the new government, to either revoke the government notification or implement it, the chances of the former are more should the BJP come to power.
NCP leader Praful Patel had questioned, "When the results of the Lok Sabha elections are due in two weeks' time, where is the need for such an enquiry."
Party chief Sharad Pawar had also reportedly, spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convey the NCP's view in the matter. NCP is the second largest constituent of the Congress-led UPA.
Close on the heels of the NCP, another allay, the National Conference also disagreed with the government move. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (who is also a close friend of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi) tweeted, "If the decision to appoint a commission was taken in Dec it should have been implemented.
To appoint a judge 5 months later is wrong." Also adding, that party chief Farooque Abdullah also felt the same way. "Was talking to my dad last night and he felt the same way-setting up a commission of inquiry in the dying hours of UPA 2 is just wrong."
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi today sufficed to say, "We can and do, agree as well as disagree with our allies." Interestingly, the opposition of the UPA allies was in sync with the Opposition BJP's statements, condemning the government move alleging that it reeked of "vendetta."
BJP questioned the need for the UPA to order a probe when the Gujarat government itself had ordered a commission of inquiry into the case. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, went so far as to suggest that he wanted to see which judge would head such a probe.
There are some sections within the Congress who are pinning the delay at the doorstep of the Law minister Kapil Sibal, who "did not pursue the matter". It is only after the Law minister writes to the Chief Justice that a judge can be selected from a panel of names.
Others within the party, claimed that appointing a judge at this fag end would raise questions over the credibility of the findings of the probe, so the party did a rethink on the probe. Whatever be the case, the Congress has had to eat humble pie, even in the last days of UPA II, with allies not wanting to be party to Congress vendetta politics. |
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