Pranab can’t take his words ‘back’

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today refused to retract his statement made against the Opposition and justified it with pop wisdom: ‘‘How can you take it back? If paste comes out of the tube, you simply cannot put the same paste in the same tube.”

He said the NDA’s decision to boycott Parliamentary Standing Committees ‘‘amounts to non-cooperation’’ towards the functioning of Parliament and expressed hope that better sense will prevail upon them and they will join the committees. But he did give an explanation of sorts. He said that he had not condemned the entire Opposition and blamed only ‘‘a section of the Opposition’’ for not allowing the Lok Sabha Speaker to complete his observations.

‘‘As Leader of the House, it is my responsibility to ensure and to maintain the dignity of the House. The Speaker is the custodian and authority of the House and if the Speaker is obstructed and cannot complete his observation, then as Leader of the House, I cannot remain a silent spectator and I had to speak up,’’ Mukherjee said.

Appealing to the Opposition to reconsider its decision, he said such a step would hit the working of the standing committees which had to scrutinise the budget demands of various ministries in definite time-frame for parliamentary approval.