I accept responsibility for CVC’s appointment: PM

'No Case To Blame Coalition Compulsions'

NewDelhi/Jammu:Aday after the Supreme Court shamed the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accepted responsibility for the court striking down the appointment of P J Thomas as central vigilance commissioner. This is quite unlike the 2G scam, which he blamed on compromises required for running a coalition government.
    "I respect the judgment of the Supreme Court and I accept my responsibility," the PM said in Jammu on Friday, admitting that the buck stopped with him since the CVC decision did not relate to coalition compulsions.
    "Well, I think what we see, this is not a question which relates to coalition compulsions. As for the rest, I have already said that I respect the judgment of the Supreme Court," he said. "Obviously, I think the SC has pronounced and as a loyal citizen of the country...I accept it. I respect the judgment and I accept my responsibility," he added. BJP bosses react in different tongues
New Delhi: After having won the battle over 'tainted CVC' P J Thomas, who had to resign from his post following a Supreme Court order, BJP seems to have floundered by coming out in differing voices on Friday while formulating the party's response to the PM's acceptance of responsibility on the CVC's appointment.
    Cracks in the party showed up as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj took a soft line, that seemed to have gone completely against the strong cadre sentiment in the matter. "I appreciate the statement of the prime minister owning responsibility for the appointment of CVC which has been quashed by Supreme Court. I think this is enough. Let matters rest at this and we move forward," Swaraj said on Twitter, soon after the PM's admission of responsibility for the CVC's appointment came in from Jammu.
    Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, however, maintained that the PM still needed to clarify whether he and home minister P Chidambaram knew about the cases pending against Thomas.
    Party spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad had, minutes before Swaraj came out with her views, reacted to the PM's statement by saying that this was not adequate. "We will wait for the prime minister's
structured
response in Parliament on the issue. Just a casual comment on owning responsibility is not enough. There should also be determination of this responsibility," Prasad said in a clear indication that BJP was not ready to close the chapter yet, after targetting the PM directly on this matter.
    This is not the first instance of Swaraj's soft line versus Jaitley's hard line play. It was evident when Swaraj welcomed the PM's statement announcing the setting up of a JPC into the 2G scam as reflecting the true spirit of parliamentary democracy. In contrast, Jaitley called the statement graceless on the ground that it justified government's initial intransigence and gave the impression that the UPA was armtwisted by opposition into conceding the parliamentary probe.

Arun Jaitley (top) and Sushma Swaraj