Congress expresses surprise over permission granted to 'Mann ki Baat' programme

New Delhi, Sept 19: A day after Election Commission gave go ahead to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' programme to be aired tomorrow, Congress today expressed surprise that permission was granted based on a clarification sought by the government.

"We are surprised to learn that EC has granted permission for Mann Ki Baat based on some request by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dated September 15.

Our delegation met the Commission on September 16 at 2.40 pm and discussion continued upto 3 pm but neither the Commission nor any one informed of any request having been received by the Commission(EC), which obviously means that there was no request till then and if it had been received why was it not disclosed to the delegation," AICC Secretary in charge of Legal department K C Mittal said here.

He said while media is abreast with developments, none of the channels reported any such request by I and B ministry to the EC.

Mann Ki Baat is not an ongoing welfare scheme of the government: Cong

Mittal said he had sought a meeting of grand alliance representatives with EC on September 15 but it could not materialise. The meeting was fixed for September 16, but they were not informed of any communication from the I and B Ministry.

"It is learnt that the letter was received only on 16.9.2015, but is dated 15.9.15, whether this letter was back dated or not is a fact to be verified but one thing is clear that it must have been received after meeting with the delegation.

However, the contents of the letter were never given to us at any point of time nor were we given an opportunity to raise an objection.

It is a very serious matter. It may also be pointed out that 'Mann Ki Baat' is not an ongoing welfare scheme of the government but only a speech.

The whole issue raises questions about the functioning and requires thorough enquiry by the Hon'ble Commission to maintain faith and its constitutional independence," he said.

PTI