NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday rejected a privilege notice against Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh for "misleading" the House with his allegation of a mole in the Prime Minister's Office during Narasimha Rao's regime.

In their notice, V. Narayanasamy (Congress) and others said Mr. Singh had on August 1placed on record "a purportedly forged letter and thereby misled the House on the issue." Mr. Singh quoted a letter claiming it to be correspondence between the former U.S. Ambassador to India Harry Barnes, and Senator Thomas W. Graham. But newspaper reports said Mr. Barnes denied he had anything to do with that correspondence.

"No forgery"

Mr. Shekhawat said Mr. Singh, in his response to the notice, stood by his statement in the House on August 1. Mr. Singh added the said letter was written by Mr. Grahm to Mr. Barnes, that a copy was given to him, and he did not forge it.

Mr. Shekhawat said it clearly emerged that Mr. Singh quoted from the letter, which he believed to be true and authenticated as true. "It cannot, therefore, be said his statement on August 1 was wrong or made deliberately to mislead the House. Accordingly, no breach of privilege arises from his statement. I do not consider it [a] fit case to be raised as a matter of breach of privilege. I, therefore, withhold my consent."

Newspaper report

Further, Mr. Narayanasamy's notice was based merely on a newspaper report, and Mr. Singh's comments clearly revealed that the newspaper report was not based on substantiated facts. "This case, therefore, highlights an important lesson that greater care, caution and prudence must be exercised in such a serious matter when relying on media reports," Mr. Shekhawat said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail