Cong Out in Open to Back PM on Indo-Pak Statement
Breaking its formal silence on the controversy raging over Indo-Pak Joint Statement for over a week, the Congress party has come out openly to back Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
“The Congress is confident that when the Prime Minister speaks in Parliament on July 29, he will set at rest all the questions, all apprehensions and speculation relating to the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt,” AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.
It may be mentioned that even on Saturday, a senior Congress leader had signaled that he party would support Singh on the issue.
His remarks were significant as they came a day after a crucial meeting of the Congress Core Group attended among others by Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the backdrop of reported murmurs in the party on the joint statement.
The party was seen as shy of openly backing the government in the context of inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement which also delinked terrorism from the Composite Dialogue Process.
The Congress leader’s statement had also come close on the heels of the Prime Minister dismissing as “media creation” the reports of differences between party and the government over the issue of the joint statement.
The Prime Minister is set to spell out the government’s stand in Parliament on July 29.
