Ram Sethu: Soni faces Jairam146;s arrow

Ramesh, in a press conference at the Tea Board in Kolkata today, said Soni should have 8220;owned up moral responsibility8221; and stepped down. 8220;If I was in her position, I would have resigned,8221; he said.

Ramesh said that the moment it was found that the affidavit was wrongly drafted and had hurt the sentiments of people, the leaders at the highest level in the Congress intervened to see that it was withdrawn. He said that though Soni could not be held responsible for the fiasco, she could have stepped down.

He clarified that the remark was his 8220;personal view.8221; 8220;She is a good friend and a senior colleague of mine. It is also not expected of a Cabinet minister to examine each and every affidavit before it is filed,8221; Ramesh clarified.

Ramesh also gave the instance of Lal Bahadur Shastri who had resigned as the Railway Minister after the Ariyalur rail accident in Tamil Nadu in 1956 that claimed more than 100 lives. 8220;It is not as if he was responsible for the accident but he resigned. This owning moral responsibility has been the system in the country,8221; said Ramesh.

Soni, who met party chief Sonia Gandhi today, said: 8220;I will not take even a minute to relinquish my post if my leaders Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi ask me to do so.8221; When asked about Ramesh8217;s statement, Soni told reporters: 8220;I am not Jairam Ramesh.8221;

8220;The Culture Secretary had made three amendments in the affidavit that I upheld and made notings on the file. While two corrections, rather deletions, were incorporated, one was left out. We have to see where this oversight happened,8221; she told The Indian Express.

The third correction related to the controversial portion questioning the existence of Lord Ram.

The Congress High Command is learnt to have taken a 8220;serious note8221; of Ramesh8217;s remarks. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh came out in support of Soni saying that she had asked for deletions of controversial paragraphs. Asked about Ramesh8217;s remarks, Singh said, 8220;It seems Ramesh is not aware of these facts.8221;

Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj who was entrusted with the damage-control exercise by the Congress High Command had chosen to gloss over Soni8217;s corrections as also the responsibility of his own ministry. The controversial portion of the affidavit had originated at the desk of the ASG who comes under the Law Ministry.

According to official sources, when the PIL was in Madras High Court later transferred to the Supreme Court, the Culture Ministry had prepared a draft affidavit and sent it to the ASG. Subramaniam, however, prepared a fresh affidavit to be submitted to the Supreme Court. It was the new affidavit that courted controversy.

Asked whether the affidavit along with the objectionable references were prepared by his office, the ASG told The Indian Express, 8220;Not true.8221; 8220;The affidavit was a result of inputs from all concerned. It was a team effort. We worked for six days and nights continuously to arrive at the document,8221; he said.

Meanwhile, Soni today sent all concerned documents including copies of her corrections to the Prime Minister8217;s Office and has sought an appointment with the PM. She handed over copies of the same documents to the Congress President today.

On September 13, a day after the controversy had broken out, Sonia and the PM had called her up in Tokyo to seek explanation. The Congress President was said to be 8220;very upset8221; about the contents of the affidavit when she called up the minister.

While the Culture Ministry suspended two ASI officials for not carrying out the minister8217;s corrections after an 8220;in-house8221; probe, a departmental inquiry has been ordered to find out how the deleted paragraph found its way to the affidavit.

8220;Starting from me, anyone who is responsible will have to be answerable but I will not allow any official to be made a scapegoat,8221; Soni said.

with Express News Service, Kolkata