Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday made it clear that the Centre had not taken any view on the Shunglu Committee report, which has suggested that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) be made a multimember body.
Asked about Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office V. Narayanasamy’s remarks that the government was considering a proposal to make the CAG a multimember body, Mr. Chidambaram said the MoS had denied it. “I have seen Mr. Narayanasamy denying that he had made any reference to that part of the issue. He was asked generally about what he was doing about the report. He said it was under consideration. I myself have not read the report,” he said, after meeting DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Monday. The Minister said if the government was taking any view, the Finance Minister would be involved in it. “The government is not taking any view,” he further said.
To a question on the Income-Tax Department probing BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s investments, Mr. Chidambaram said though the department was probing the issue, he did not monitor each and everything.
He described the meeting with Mr. Karunanidhi as a courtesy call on the occasion of Diwali, denying his meeting had anything to do with the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation’s (TESO) demand for a referendum to decide the political future of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
On Sunday, while addressing a meeting, the DMK chief requested the Centre to use its good offices to get the United Nations to hold a referendum in Sri Lanka. “If the Centre cooperates with us we will also cooperate with it,” he said.
