Rattled Cong distances itself from Digvijay's bravado

, May 14: The

on Monday distanced itself from senior party leader Digvijaya Singh after the latter took a dig at the Supreme Court over its "off-the-cut observations" on the

during a hearing on the coal scam probe vetting.

Singh in an interview questioned the apex court's observations while defending the conduct of ousted Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and the government.

When pointed out that CBI director Ranjit Sinha supported the view of the Supreme Court that the investigative agency was indeed being treated like a "caged parrot" by its political "masters", Singh said the CBI is also accountable to some authority.

The senior leader even accused the judiciary of prevailing over the politician with the help of the "concept of court" provision. He said the Supreme Court is also answerable to the Constitution and could not make law itself.

The party, which is in a mess owing to a number of scams and corruption charges, however, decided not to go along with Singh and expressed its respect for the court. The party's newly appointed spokesperson Meen Afzal said Singh is a big leader of the party and he must have thought what he was saying. "Only he can explain what he has said," Afzal said. He said the Supreme Court's words are respected by all, including the government and the media. He said whatever the Supreme Court said, it should be taken seriously.

Earlier, Singh said "the public in general should question", whether "by calling CBI a parrot in cage, then a Central Administration Bench in Bangalore calling the IB a chicken...are we not belittling our institutions.''

Sibal, Joshi take charge

Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal and Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi on Monday took additional charge of the law and railway ministries, respectively. Joshi had taken charge of the ministry in September after the Trinamool Congress had withdrawn from the UPA government. Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was recently ousted owing to corruption charges, had taken over from him.

Meanwhile, Sibal said his objective was the make the legal procedures less cumbersome so that economic growth was not hindered.

OneIndia News