Antony corrects reply on MiG deal,BJP protests

In his revised statement laid on Wednesday,he said,It was inadvertently mentioned in the reply that a total of 872 MiG aircraft of various types were purchased between 1966 and 1980. This information,he said,related only to the MiG-21 aircraft and the total number of MiG aircraft of different variants including the MiG-21 variant inducted into the Indian Air Force is 1,303. These were purchased between 1966 and 2004-05,Antony said,adding The error is regretted.

However,as soon as P J Kurien,who was in the Chair,announced during zero hour that Antony would make a statement correcting his earlier answer,BJPs Najma Heptulla said,Everyday some minister is correcting his statement. She sought a directive from the Chair to such ministers that they they should furnish correct statements.

BJPs Venkaiah Naidu said,Is it a tamasha drama 8230;Ministers are correcting their statements daily. They were joined by Rajiv Pratap Rudy,Prakash Javadekar,Vinay Katiyar and Ravi Shankar Prasad who stood up raising their objections.

An agitated Kurien said,They are doing their duty by correcting it8230;You cannot ask the Chair what is the rule8230;A minister with prior permission of the Chair can make a statement correcting an answer.