Shekhawat declares assets, Cong red-faced

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi was non-committal on whether Patil would also declare her assets. He took shelter in the familiar argument about 8220;technicalities8221; which state that Patil is not required under law to file any affidavit about her assets.

8220;A presidential candidate is not obliged to make it assets public. Even the Returning Officer will not accept it. The NDA candidate is enacting a political melodrama,8221; Singhvi said at a press conference on Thursday.

For the last two weeks, the Congress has been demanding that the NDA-backed candidate resign from the post of Vice-President of India even though it is not required under the law. To bolster their demand, the UPA nominee8217;s campaign managers have cited the 8220;moral8221; ground set by Patil by resigning as Rajasthan Governor after being nominated as the presidential candidate.

The Congress brushed aside any talk of 8220;moral8221; yardsticks when it came to the declaration of assets. The party8217;s position remained unclear from Singhvi8217;s ambiguous answers to queries if Patil will follow the example set by Shekhawat by putting her assets in 8220;public domain8221;.

While he termed Shekhawat8217;s move a 8220;farce and hypocrisy8221;, reiterating that it is not required under the law, the Congress spokesman did not rule out the possibility of Patil doing the same in the future.

Congress sources said later that to correct public perception about the UPA nominee hiding her assets, she could go public with the details. 8220;We are not ruling it out. She could declare her assets even after the presidential election. Nothing is decided yet though,8221; said sources.

The party is said to be anxious about further public scrutiny into Patil8217;s assets if she were to declare it. The party is already on the backfoot trying to defend a volley of allegations of financial irregularities by institutions with which she and her family members have been associated. Any more skeletons from the cupboard can only muddy the waters just when things are getting back on track, said sources.