BJP leaders seek President’s intervention

Attributing motives to Vinod Rai improper: memorandum

BJP leaders L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and Arun Jaitley brief the media outside Rashtrapati Bhavan after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee on coal block allocation and related issues on Wednesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

The BJP on Wednesday petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking his intervention in the attack on the Comptroller and Auditor-General by the Congress and some senior functionaries of the government.

BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and Arun Jaitley called on the President and handed over a memorandum explaining why his intervention was needed.

“We told the President that we have come to you as our concern is that when constitutional institutions are weakened or not given due respect your intervention is required ... Our opinion is that your intervention becomes important. You should advise the government that it is not right for it to do this,” Mr. Advani told reporters after the meeting.

The memorandum said the party approached him for his involvement as the defender of the Constitution. It termed the attack on the CAG by the ruling party an affront to the entire constitutional mechanism designed by the founding fathers to ensure accountability and transparency.

Till few weeks ago the Congress’ criticism was confined to the methodology adopted by the CAG in preparation of its reports. However, in recent days, the party was targeting CAG Vinod Rai.

Last week, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh accused Mr. Rai of not only being biased but also entertaining political ambitions.

On Monday, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari alleged that the CAG was as much responsible as the BJP for the disruption of the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament.

In the memorandum, the BJP leaders expressed “deep anguish and profound concern” over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress questioning the CAG report on Coalgate.

“MPs and high functionaries belonging to the Congress and the Prime Minister himself have gone public in criticising the CAG report. Motives, including that of having political ambitions, have been openly attributed to the CAG ... The most shocking are the statements of the Prime Minister in Parliament and public on August 27.” Dr. Singh in his statement said the CAG observations were flawed on multiple counts.