Sethu affidavit was objectionable: Pachouri

Bilapsur, Chhattisgarh, Oct 14 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Personnel Suresh Pachouri today admitted that the affidavit on Ram Sethu submitted in the Supreme Court by the Archaeological Survey of India, was indeed objectionable.

''The remarks regarding Lord Ram, in paragraphs seven and 20, were definitely unnecessary. That was precisely why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi not only had the objectionable portions removed but also directed that the affidavit be withdrawn,'' he told journalists here while on a Chhattisgarh visit for attending a private programme at nearby Kota.

Regarding the Bharatiya Janata Party's protest against the Sethusamudram Project, the Minister claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance regime aeyed rptg aeyed the Project.

''In 2001, the then Shipping Minister Arun Jaitley ordered NEERI to conduct a study. The NEERI proposal was received on October 23, 2002. Mr Jaitley's successors Vedprakash Goyal and Shatrughan Sinha gave the go ahead with some minor modification. Mr Sinha even made a statement in Parliament on September 23, 2003,'' he added.

UNI