Congress declines comment on sports bill rejection

The Congress today declined to comment on the reported objections of some Union ministers to the national sports development bill piloted by the sports ministry, saying the cabinet's deliberations were confidential and normal part of decision making.

The Congress on Wednesday declined to comment on the reported objections of some Union ministers to the national sports development bill piloted by the sports ministry, saying the cabinet's deliberations were confidential and normal part of decision making.

HT Image

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that he has seen press reports about the cabinet meeting but would not dissect them.

The reports said that senior ministers, including Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Farooq Abdullah and CP Joshi, had opposed the draft law aimed at regulating national sports federations and curtailing powers of those who head them. Sports minister Ajay Maken later withdrew the draft law after the cabinet asked him to rework it.

Singhvi said that deliberations of the cabinet were supposed to be "privileged" and "were not known to us officially".

He, however, added that deliberations in the cabinet reflected dialectics of decision making.

The deliberations were aimed at coming up with an effective bill, said Singhvi, adding that if there were disagreements, these "should not be sensationalised".