Cong treating Rahul WikiLeaks row as a closed chapter
Ahead of its Plenary beginning on Saturday, Congress is treating as a "closed chapter" the controversy over Rahul Gandhi's remarks that Hindu radicals posed a bigger threat to India than terror outfits like LeT.
Ahead of its Plenary beginning on Saturday, Congress is treating as a "closed chapter" the controversy over Rahul Gandhi's remarks that Hindu radicals posed a bigger threat to India than terror outfits like LeT.
The party views that the cables released by WikiLeaks which talk of the conversations between US diplomats and Congress leaders could be "analysis and interpretation included" and hence they are not hundred per cent correct.
"Moreover responding to such leaks will be setting a wrong trend. Diplomats of every country send some report about their host country and it is not the right thing to start reacting on all this. This is in a way giving unnecessary importance to such leaks," a senior party leader said speaking on the condition of anonymity.
He said the issue is now "a closed chapter for the party" but added "there are some absolute untruths" in the leaks.
There is a view in the party that since there is no end of releases on WikiLeaks, the best strategy is to ignore them.
The party also ruled out any attempt to verify the authenticity of the leaks saying it does not attach that much importance to WikiLeaks cable. "We do not want to get into all this. We treat the issue as a closed chapter," the leader said.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had said yesterday "we will respond to it after verifying the facts... There is no reason to react in an excited manner. The issue should first be looked into."
The Opposition has meanwhile upped the ante against the Congress over the leaks.
Slamming Rahul Gandhi for making "irresponsible" remarks, former BJP leader Uma Bharti claimed he was taking lessons from Divijay Singh to make statements against RSS for garnering Muslim support. She also alleged that the Congress "creates" terrorism and seeks vote in its name.
"Congress is an irresponsible party...It creates terrorism and seek votes in its name...LTTE was patronised by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and the organisation ultimately took the life of Rajiv in a tragic incident," Bharti told reporters in Lucknow.
The CPI(M) on Saturday said the US official cables released by WikiLeaks showed the "complicity" of the Manmohan Singh government in furthering American "imperialist" interests.
"As the WikiLeaks cables from around the world have shown, the United States pursues single-mindedly its imperialist interests. The unfortunate part is the complicity of the Manmohan Singh government in furthering some of these interests," the party Politburo said.