Now, Congress throws back ‘caged parrot’ barb at BJP

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi recalled that Shah filed the discharge application after Lok Sabha polls. While his lawyers argued for three days, CBI’s lawyer argued for 15 minutes, he said. He also questioned why CBI did not hire a special public prosecutor.

“And most importantly there was a statement under (Section) 164 (CrpC) before the magistrate. None of this was projected by the CBI counsel during the 15-minute submission before the Mumbai court. There are serious questions for the CBI to answer. There are serious questions to the central government, which seems to have become the master of the caged parrot all over again,” Singhvi said.

He added: “But I can say at this stage that it (the order) is still at the lowest level. The lowest court has so decided, which is subject to appeal. This is not the final stage.”

Recalling that a court had in 2010 restrained Shah from entering Gujarat, Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said, “Suddenly you find that there has been a total U-turn and he is exonerated. So it is definitely worrisome,”Kumar said, adding that the episode shows the way the present government is going to “use the CBI”.