The Congress on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has passed the buck for the fiasco involving appointment of P.J. Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner.
“The Prime Minister has squarely... very honourably taken responsibility saying I am accountable. He has not passed the buck to anybody... It is a completely erroneous reading of the situation,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.
Noting that the issue was over with the Prime Minister’s statement, he said the Supreme Court has passed no stricture on the High-Powered Committee headed by Dr. Singh or any of its members.
Besides, there is a distinction between bona fide and mala fide error, he said.
In his statement in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the Prime Minister virtually blamed former MoS (Personnel) Prithviraj Chavan, saying the note forwarded by him for the selection committee did not have information about corruption case against Mr. Thomas.
Dr. Singh had said that he was not aware of a charge sheet against Mr. Thomas till the meeting of selection committee on September 3 last year and that he gave his approval as he believed vigilance clearance would have been obtained as Mr. Thomas had earlier served as Kerala Chief Secretary and Secretary in the Central government.
