Wrong Report

I have read the news item titled Somnath reverses stand on Laloo (May 13). It is matter of regret that even what I have said in Parliament has been distorted. I never said in Lok Sabha, as you have alleged, that it was unfair for people to demand the resignation of a chief minister merely on the basis of media reports and the decision of the CBI to seek the Governors permission to charge him in the animal husbandry scam. A reference to the Lok Sabha debates will disprove what has been imputed to me. When the issue first came up in Lok Sabha, I stated that the chief minister should resign, which I reiterated in Lok Sabha on May 12.

 

I do not know whether I have been chided by my partys general secretary. He never spoke to me on this matter. What you call a U-turn is obviously your own understanding based on incorrect assumptions. You have tried to imply that I kept myself away from Lok Sabha for about a week because of the views of my party general secretary. You have never bothered to show me the courtesy of finding out from me why I could not attend the house. If somebody cares to look into records of a Calcutta Hospital (the name I can supply) he will find that I was in the hospital for a check-up and treatment under strict medical advice.