Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has threatened legal action against journalist and senior columnist Tavleen Singh for her comments on Wednesday night on a TV show accusing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of violating the Official Secrets Act to show crucial files to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
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At a debate hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai on India today on the topic “Is Mallikarjun Kharge a stop-gap chief”, Ms. Singh said, “Don’t forget we are dealing with a lady who could make the Prime Minister of India break the Official Secrets Act….she was no one in the government, to send her secret files.”
Congress leader Praveen Chakravarti, who was on the panel, objected to Ms. Singh’s comments asking for evidence to back her statement. “Somebody on your show, just now, charged the former PM of violating Official Secrets Act, either they provide evidence for it or they face consequences. That cannot go uncontested.”
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Chidambaram’s denial
Mr. Sardesai announced that Mr. Chidambaram, who was watching the show, in a text message to him said, no such files were sent to Ms. Gandhi. When Ms. Singh was asked for her response, she said, “I don’t need to prove it, just go back to that time, there was a big controversy about it.”
Reacting to the exchange, Mr. Chidambaram on Thursday, in a series of tweets without naming Ms. Singh, termed her statement “wild and outrageous”. “After some defensive replies, she agreed to produce evidence. We wish to remind her that her time to produce evidence starts NOW. We challenge her to prove her wild and irresponsible charge against the former Prime Minister,” he tweeted.
Ms. Singh refused to comment when The Hindu contacted her. “I have said what I wanted to. I have no intention in saying any more than I have,” she said.