No disagreement between party and PM, says Congress

New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Congress today sought todismiss impressions of any disagreement between the party andPrime Minister over the latter''s views on various issuesexpressed during his interaction with TV editors.

"There is no ambiguity. The party is with PrimeMinister and agrees with whatever he has said (during theinteraction)," AICC general secretary and media departmentchief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters.

Sources in the party said that there is a feeling thatthe Prime Minister by "not appearing very aggressive" duringthe interaction did the right thing, otherwise an impressionwould have gone that the government was not acknowledging itsresponsibility for the aberrations if any.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior partyleader said he found nothing wrong in the Prime Minister''sremark that compromises have to be made in a coalition andtermed it as a fact.

Claiming that the Prime Minister''s press conferencehas sent a good message among people, he said Singh''s style ofarticulation showed that he shared concerns of the common manon the issue of corruption and was committed to punish thosefound guilty of it.

He said the televised press conference succeeded ingiving the message among the middle class and common men inurban and semi urban areas that the government was serious intaking corrective measures and that the Prime Minister willnot condone wrong doings.

Asked whether the Prime Minister appeared too mellowedwhile answering the corruption related questions, the leadersaid, "Had there been anybody else, he would have replied moreaggressively. But the style differs from person to person."

Speaking separately, party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmedrejected suggestions that the Prime Minister''s remarks mighthave rubbed the allies on the wrong side.

"We respect our coalition partners and they alsorespect our sentiments," he said, adding that none of thealliance partners has criticised the Prime Minister''s viewsthe way media was suggesting.

He was replying to a specific query on whether theparty was concerned that some of the UPA partners had nottaken kindly to the Prime Minister''s statement.

Another party leader, who chose not to be named, saidthat the relations between Congress and DMK are not going tobe affected at all due to actions being taken against formertelecom minister A Raja as both parties are on the same pageon the issue as far as taking action in the case is concerned.