Sonia Backs PM on Joint Statement

Addressing a conclave of party parliamentarians on Thursday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi fully supported the stand adopted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Indo-Pak joint statement.

“The party fully supports and welcomes the Prime Minister’s reply on the Indo-Pak joint statement,” agencies quoted Sonia as saying in her address to the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in New Delhi.

She iterated that talks with Pakistan could only resume after Islamabad decided to act against terror and put a stop to the use of its territories for anti-India activities.

UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi’s statements supporting Premier Singh’s stand on the issue, came a day after the latter addressed the Parliament on the contentious Indo-Pak joint statement issued in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, on July 16.

Media reports following the issuance of the statement, which marked the first ever mention of Balochistan in a bilateral statement, had suggested that a difference of opinion, on the matter, existed between the Congress and the UPA government it heads.

Clearing the air, party spokesman Manish Tiwari said: “The party had made its stand very clear on PM’s reply. I don’t think that after the Party President has spoken, there is any need for anyone to add or subtract from it.”