Jaitley keeps country guessing, Cong stressing
23 Oct 2014 5:37 AM IST
However, the FM has ‘not denied the possibility that the name of a former UPA minister was in the black money holders’ list.’
‘I am neither confirming nor denying, only smiling,’ Jaitley said on Wednesday in an interview to a television channel. However, the Congress kept up its attacks, with AICC communication department chairman Ajay Maken issuing a statement on Wednesday. ‘Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat....Congress party is above individuals. Stricter possible action should be taken against whoever is involved in it but that should not be inspired by vindictiveness and it should also not be half truth,’ he said.
‘We also tell them not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals. We want to tell the BJP and the Prime Minister that half-truth is not the truth. They should not go for selective and vindictive leakages. They should come out with all the names,’ Maken said. The issue of black money has led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and Congress. The government recently told the Supreme Court that it couldn’t disclose the names of Swiss bank account holders, a stand the UPA had taken earlier.
After Congress accused the BJP government of ‘practising hypocrisy’ on the issue, Jaitley on Wednesday responded, ‘The names (of black money account holders) will be public shortly... I can assure you there is no embarrassment that I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. But there is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names.’
Dismissing it, AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh accused Jaitley of ‘bluffing’ while Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav asked what was stopping the finance minister from naming those people. Reacting sharply to Jaitley’s remarks, Maken said, ‘There is no need to blackmail Congress. Whatever names they have, they should reveal and act as they have a government. They should not try to blackmail us.’
‘I am neither confirming nor denying, only smiling,’ Jaitley said on Wednesday in an interview to a television channel. However, the Congress kept up its attacks, with AICC communication department chairman Ajay Maken issuing a statement on Wednesday. ‘Congress is not going to be blackmailed under any such threat....Congress party is above individuals. Stricter possible action should be taken against whoever is involved in it but that should not be inspired by vindictiveness and it should also not be half truth,’ he said.
‘We also tell them not to limit the declaration of names only to 136 individuals. We want to tell the BJP and the Prime Minister that half-truth is not the truth. They should not go for selective and vindictive leakages. They should come out with all the names,’ Maken said. The issue of black money has led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and Congress. The government recently told the Supreme Court that it couldn’t disclose the names of Swiss bank account holders, a stand the UPA had taken earlier.
After Congress accused the BJP government of ‘practising hypocrisy’ on the issue, Jaitley on Wednesday responded, ‘The names (of black money account holders) will be public shortly... I can assure you there is no embarrassment that I (BJP) will have when all the names are disclosed. But there is some embarrassment the Congress party will have because of those names.’
Dismissing it, AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh accused Jaitley of ‘bluffing’ while Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav asked what was stopping the finance minister from naming those people. Reacting sharply to Jaitley’s remarks, Maken said, ‘There is no need to blackmail Congress. Whatever names they have, they should reveal and act as they have a government. They should not try to blackmail us.’
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