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| Congress behind PM on Indo-Pak joint statement |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Jul 28, 2009, 00:16 IST |
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Two days before he is scheduled to defend his joint statement with Pakistan in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today started receiving support from his Congress colleagues.
 Minority and Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, considered close to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, today denied any difference between the party and the prime minister over the joint statement. “There is no disagreement between the government and the party on the issue. Entire party is with the PM,” Khurshid said.
The prime minister will intervene in a debate on foreign policy matters of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on July 29 in the Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, the Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) too, has geared up to corner the UPA on Balochistan and other foreign policy issues.
NDA MPs will march to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday to submit a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil, seeking her attention on these matters, BJP’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said today.
But this helping hand of the Congress only came after the PM met Sonia Gandhi and explained his position in a closed-door core committee meeting last Friday. Initially, the Congress refused to give any official explanation on the joint statement that had a mention about Pakistan’s concerns about Balochistan.
The statement at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt by Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani said: “Prime Minister Gilani mentioned that Pakistan has some information on the threat in Balochistan and other areas.”
The Congress initially refused to comment and maintained there was “nothing to add” to what the PM had said. But today, party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, another leader considered close to Sonia Gandhi, expressed confidence that the PM would be able to quash all “apprehensions and speculations” in his reply in Parliament.
“The party is confident that when the PM speaks in Parliament on July 29, he will set at rest all questions, all apprehension and speculation in relation to the Indo-Pak joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh,” Dwivedi said today.
When asked why the party remained silent so far, Khurshid said: “The Congress was always with the PM wholeheartedly and there was no question of any difference.”
The PM has also denied any rift between the party and the government over the joint statement. A day after the Congress core committee meeting, Singh said on the sidelines of a programme at Rashtrapati Bhawan: “I have all the relevant answers.”
“I have made a statement in Parliament and Parliament is again going to discuss the issue. I will clarify,” he added.
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