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Journalism of Courage
The UPA government today said it planned to file a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court on the Kargil defence purchases. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee made the announcement at a breakfast meeting of the Left with PM Manmohan Singh.
The statement came as the party drew flak over the affidavit running contrary to its campaign against Fernandes.
Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj later told a news channel that ‘‘facts missing’’ in the earlier affidavit would be supplemented in the new affidavit. Nothing will be hidden from the court and no one shall be spared, he added.
The Congress, meanwhile, continued its damage control today, claiming that the ‘‘full story’’ on alleged defence scams committed during George Fernandes’ stint as defence minister has not come out yet.
Facing a volley of questions, party general secretary Ambika Soni said Fernandes’ claim of having been cleared of the charges will be ‘‘short-lived’’.
Soni pointed out that the Congress had charged the Defence Ministry, then headed by Fernandes, with scams on three counts — Tehelka revelations, purchase of caskets for Kargil martyrs and post-Kargil purchases. ‘‘We had boycotted him for 18 months,’’ she said. ‘‘None of these has been touched by the affidavit.’’ All these scams, she declared, are being inquired into.
The government, however, clarified that the second part of the affidavit did mention the cases that were gone into by the Comptroller and Auditor-General and Central Vigilance Commission.
BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley, however, criticised what he termed the ‘‘political slant’’ sought to be given by the government on the statement of facts to be submitted before the SC.
