BJP, Congress trade charges over Gujarat report ‘leak’

Reacting to media reports on the SIT report relating to 2002 Gujarat riots, the BJP demanded a probe by the government as to how a report that was to be submitted in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court was leaked.

Reacting to media reports on the SIT report relating to 2002 Gujarat riots, the BJP demanded a probe by the government as to how a report that was to be submitted in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court was leaked.

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The Congress responded by asking how the CAG report (on 2G spectrum) was leaked, and added that the report’s comments on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi needed to be looked at carefully.

Ironically, when news reports of an SIT “clean chit” to Modi on Zakia Jaffrey’s allegations had appeared in December 2010, the party had welcomed it without questioning the leakage in the first place. In fact, LK Advani had written a blog post on December 5 welcoming the news report.

“Whenever SIT submits a report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover there is a sanctity to it,” said BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday. “We trust the impeccable integrity of the Supreme Court in terms of information. How was it leaked? We suspect that elements in the Government of India may have some role to play in this. The Congress was quick to react to the BJP’s attacks.

“We also have to ponder over how the CAG report (on 2G spectrum) was leaked and not only about the SIT report,” Congress spokeperson Jayanthi Natarajan said. “As per my understanding, what is written in the SIT report on the role of ... Narendra Modi needs to be looked into.”