Under attack over his remarks that official auditor > should not “sensationalise” its audit findings , Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said media did not accurately reflect the spirit of his speech at the CAG conference.
“News reports of my speech at the CAG conference do not accurately reflect the spirit of my speech,” Mr. Jaitley said in a Facebook post. The Finance Minister has also uploaded the link of the speech he delivered at the valedictory meet of the annual Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Mr. Jaitley in his speech had said the government auditor should not sensationalise its findings to get into headlines. “Auditor should be conscious of the fact that he is reviewing a decision that has already been taken. Have the fair procedures been followed? He doesn’t have to sensationalise. He doesn’t have to get into the headlines,” he had said.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday took a dig at Mr. Jaitley for asking the CAG not to sensationalise its findings to get into headlines. “CAG should not sensationalise its findings,”— Arun Jaitley. Wish he had realised this when 2G and coal block CAG reports came!”, the Congress general secretary tweeted.
The Congress party had voiced similar views in the past after huge notional losses were projected in reports on 2G and coal allocation scams. Another Congress leader Ajay Maken said his party “strongly condemns” Mr. Jaitley’s statement. “When CAG report used to be leaked even before it was placed before the Parliament, and when the Finance Minister’s party, based on that report, use to disrupt Parliament for days, did he forget that CAG was being sensationalised then also,” Mr. Maken said.
