Digvijaya takes on apex court over its CBI remark

Congress General Secretary Digivijaya Singh yesterday questioned the Supreme Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal over remarks, which according to Singh belittle India's institutions.

Singh tweeted yesterday, "Hon Supreme Court calls CBI a Parrot in a Cage, CAT calls Intelligence Bureau a Chicken. Are we not belittling our Institutions?"

Action, reaction: Congress General Secretary Digivijaya Singh's tweet drew immediate response from the opposition party, the BJP. File Pic

The tweet drew immediate response from the opposition party, the BJP, with spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad saying, "I think it is important for him to look inwards for himself and his party, his leader and the PM. If the morale of the CBI has been downgraded it is only because of the rank abuse of the CBI by his government."

The Supreme Court last week had called the CBI "a caged parrot" that "speaks in its master's voice" after the investigating agency admitted in an affidavit that Ashwani Kumar, who quit as the Law Minister on Friday, and senior officials of the Prime Minister's Office and the coal ministry had made certain changes in the report on the allocation of coal blocks.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre whether it was contemplating a law to make the working of the CBI independent and insulate it from extraneous intrusion and interferences.
"Instead of blaming the highest judiciary, it is important for Digvijaya Singh to learn and understand as to why there are series of scams one after another in his government," Prasadsaid.

Smeared by scandal, two senior ministers - Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Bansal - resigned last week.

While Kumar vetted the CBI's probe report on the coal scam, Bansal faces allegations of corruption with his nephew arrested for accepting bribe to organise a plum posting for a senior official in the Railways. The CBI is investigating the bribery scam, and may question Bansal this week.
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