PMO not indicted by CAG: govt

The government today firmly rejected the Opposition's contention that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had indicted the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on the Commonwealth Games issue and insisted that Constitutional processes must be followed before blaming anyone.

"I do not think that there is an indictment of the PMO in the [CAG] report. There is no indictment. There is only a reference...Only a statement of facts," HRD minister Kapil Sibal told at a press conference after a meeting of the Group of Ministers on Media.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni were also present at the press conference.

Regretting that the media was reporting "indictment" of PMO and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit when there was none, Sibal said the media should follow self-regulation and check facts before reporting.

Echoing Sibal, Soni said, "There may be reference to different people but reference does not mean indictment. There is no indictment of any high office much less of the PMO."

Sibal, however, steered clear of questions on whether he could categorically say that there was no indictment of Dikshit in the CAG report saying, "We have not read the full report. You should let us know if there is any particular passage which you find as indictment [of Dikshit]."

Asked why action was taken against Telecom Minister A Raja even before the CAG report in the 2G spectrum allocation scam was tabled in Parliament, he said, "If in one case, the process was not followed, it does not become a Constitutional precedent."