Congress calls CVC a puppet, seeks his exit
■ Party calls him ‘vigilant’ slave of government
New Delhi, Jan. 13: Amid a row over the ouster of CBI director Alok Verma, Congress on Sunday sought “immediate removal” of the chief vigilance commissioner, alleging the government had made him act like a “puppet” to “escape a probe” into the Rafale deal.
There was no immediate reaction from the Central Vigilance Commission or the government on the charge.
“We seek the removal, the departure, the exit of the collaborator for violating the Constitution — the CVC (chief vigilance commissioner). He must go. It is irrelevant whether he resigns or is sacked, but he must go,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here. The Congress alleged that CVC K.V. Chowdary is being made to “act like a puppet” to avoid any probe into the Rafale case.
“Till now, we have been told that only the CBI was the ‘caged parrot’ but we are now seeing a new ‘vigilant’ slave of the government, a collaborator for violating the constitution of the Central Vigilance Commission,” the Congress spokesperson alleged.
Mr Verma was on Thursday removed unceremoniously as the CBI director after a high-powered panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi found that he had not been functioning with integrity expected of him.
“The CVC has been acting like an ambassador for Asthana (CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana), lobbying for Asthana, and acting as an agent and messenger for the government, to do their hatchet jobs,” Singhvi alleged.
The vigilance commissioner has forgotten that he is supposed to do vigilance for public interest, and not be a “vigilant puppet in the hands of political masters”, he said. The senior Congress leader said, he was putting forth the views of his party, based on “objectives facts” that has emerged in the press in connection with the CBI controversy.
These facts are in the public domain and “viable”, he said, claiming these “can’t be denied nor have been denied”.
The government has repeatedly denied all charges levelled by the Congress in connection with the Rafale deal.
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■ THE CONGRESS alleged that CVC K.V. Chowdary is being made to “act like a puppet” to avoid any probe into the Rafale case.
■ THE GOVERNMENT has repeatedly denied all charges levelled by the Congress in connection with the Rafale deal.