We never sought Jamia probe: Cong

The Congress on Saturday asserted that it never sought any inquiry into the Batla House police encounter and had...

The Congress on Saturday asserted that it never sought any inquiry into the Batla House police encounter and had, in fact, rejected demands to this effect made by certain individuals.

In a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner of India against a BJP advertisement stating that the Congress sought an inquiry into the encounter, the ruling party at the Centre said, 8220;This is patently false. On the contrary, the Congress, as a party, has never sought such an inquiry. Demands made by individuals to this effect have been specifically rejected by the Congress-led UPA Government. This is clearly false, tendentious and seeks to communalise the issue.8221; The complaint was filed on behalf of the Congress through its MP and AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Earlier this month, after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress MP Rashid Alvi had revealed that the PM had told him that it was not possible to have any inquiry into the Batla House encounter now. Two days later, Alvi disclosed that he had got a call from the PM who denied having made any such statement during the meeting.

While Alvi said there could have been some 8220;misunderstanding8221; on this account on his part, the MP also said the PM8217;s denial meant that there could be an inquiry into the incident.

In its complaint to the CEC on Saturday, the Congress strongly objected to the 8220;blatant and patent violation of the model code of conduct8221; by issuing such advertisements, which were full of falsehood, deliberately inaccurate, and had communal overtones.

The said advertisement, which appeared in national newspapers on Friday, further stated, 8220;Jamia University funds to defend terror accused8221;. The Congress termed it as false since 8220;the Congress is not Jamia University and Jamia University is not the Congress. The two have no connection whatsoever.8221;

Secondly, even Jamia University has officially clarified that the funds used for defending the alleged terror accused are not Government funds given to the university but defrayed from a special fund/corpus created for this purpose, said the Congress complaint.