Sacking Margaret Alva most unfortunate: Moily

New Delhi, Nov 16: Veerappa Moily, Congress party's chief spokesman on Sunday, Nov 16 said stripping Margaret Alva off key party posts was 'the most unfortunate incident' for which the party was not happy.

Moily told in 'Devil's Advocate' a programme in CNN-IBN channel's, ''It's the most unfortunate incident. We are not happy that she had to go but it was inevitable, particularly after the kind of statement she has given which has breached the discipline of the party.'' ''She was an enemy of herself. I don't think she needs any outside enemy on an issue like this,'' Mr Moily said, when asked whether Ms Alva was stripped off her general secretaryship and membership of the CWC and the CEC because a coterie around party president Sonia Gandhi wanted her out of the way.

Ms Alva was removed from key party posts after she alleged sale of party tickets in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections.

When reminded that another leader, Jaffer Sharief, had spoken against the party over ticket distribution in the recent past, Mr Moily said she had made serious allegations.

''She was questioning the morality of the Congress.... She has made very specific allegations against her own colleagues.''

On the ban imposed during the Karnataka elections on tickets for relatives, Mr Moily denied that there had been such a ban. ''Right from the day one of gaining independence, right from the day when we started getting into the elections, the Congress has not put a total ban on the kith and kin or the children of any politician,'' he said.

Asked why the Congress had refused an inquiry into the tickets-for-cash allegations made by Ms Alva and Mr Yogendra Makwana, who was sacked from the chairmanship of the AICC SC Department, Mr Moily said all these matters had been gone into by the A K Antony committee.

''Since there are no issues, the question of examining did not arise,'' he added.

However later, while answering another question, he contradicted himself by saying:''We have made an inquiry that it is totally false. It's a motivated allegation made by Mr Yogendra Makwana....

We have verified it, it is wrong.'' Mr Moily claimed that the Congress was the most transparent and democratic party and had gone through a proper process for selection of candidates and ticket distribution in the ongoing elections.

He denied that the party had ignored the issues of internal democracy and transparency raised by AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi while distributing tickets in the current elections.

''.... It has not been done by any individual or any individual leaders. It has been done by a process and a system,'' he said.

UNI