Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday termed as an “afterthought” Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s claim that he had not misled the panel for selection of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and his contention that the BJP leader was making “thoughtless allegations”.
“I have seen that (Mr. Chidambaram’s) statement. I have to only say that if he knew the case was pending it was the primary duty of the government to apprise the selection committee of that. They did not do that,” she told reporters.
“All that he is saying are after thought... These facts are absolutely irrelevant,” she added.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Chidambaram had refuted Ms. Swaraj’s charges that he had misled the CVC selection panel about the Palmolein case pending against P.J. Thomas.
“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,” Mr. Chidambaram said in a statement.
He said Ms. Swaraj is “tying herself in knots” by making “thoughtless allegations”.
However, Ms. Swaraj stood her ground despite Mr. Chidambaram’s claims.
“The first thing which he committed was that he concealed this information from the selection committee. It was me who brought this to the committee that there was a case and then he (Mr. Chidambaram) said he (Mr. Thomas) was acquitted,” Ms. Swaraj said.
