Invoking House,Singhvi steps down

Singhvi did not clarify whether he had also resigned as Congress spokesperson. But Congress sources said he had ceased to be spokesperson,and would lose his party posts,including chairman of the AICC Legal amp; Human Rights Department,in the next reshuffle.

I have8230; decided not to brief the press, Singhvi said in a statement issued by his office.

Shortly after the CD surfaced about 10 days ago,the party had removed Singhvi from the spokespersons duty roster. Subsequently,with the CD circulating on social media and the BJP gearing up to corner the UPA by raising the issue of ethics in Parliament,the Congress leadership was learnt to have asked Singhvi to resign.

Congress media department chairman Janardan Dwivedi said it was the same thing whether the party had asked Singhvi to resign or he had resigned on his own. Abhishek Singhvi has taken the step on the basis of whatever situation has come to the fore. It is the right step, Dwivedi said.

While Singhvi was on firm footing legally,with his driver stating in court that he had fabricated the CD,the ethical and political dimensions of the controversy could not be wished away. Despite a court injunction,the video has been circulating on YouTube and Facebook.

As standing committee chairman,Singhvi had steered the Lokpal Bill,which strives for transparency in public life.

Since I am a disciplined party soldier,I did not think it fit to subject the party to any inconvenience8230; I wish to categorically state that canards and baseless allegations are being spread about alleged inappropriate conversation in the CD, he said.

Singhvi denied that there was any reference in the CD to the promise of any post. No one has heard any such reference in the CD. There is none,simply because it does not exist. It is pure imagination,wishful thinking and sensationalism. The canard was spread simply to give the issue a public interest flavour since otherwise the contents of the CD,assuming them to be true which they certainly are not,would disclose only something private and consensual giving a cause of action only to aggrieved family members who have stood completely by me and to no one else, Singhvi said.

According to Singhvi,people inimically opposed to him spent over 10 days hearing,seeing,amplifying and distilling the CD and found no vestige of any reference,not even remotely,to any illegality,corrupt practice,or wrongdoing.

Either the CD is morphed or it is not. In either event,it raises no public interest issue,yet evokes salacious private and prurient interest and contumacious internet violation of a flagrant kind. As a political or a professional class,instead of gleefully watching,promoting or participating in a persons natural and understandable discomfiture,we must respect privacy issues, he said.

He said it was lamentable that canards were being spread about a CD which had been accepted thrice over to be fabricated and morphed. The drivers disclosure statement to the police,his detailed written statement in the High Court and his oral statement recorded on oath physically in the presence of the judge,all explain how and why he created this fabrication, Singhvi said.