Slamming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of appointment of P.J. Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner, which was quashed by the Supreme Court, BJP on Sunday demanded that he should explain the circumstances behind the appointment.
“The Prime Minister is duty-bound to tell whether there was an error of judgement or some other pressure from outside. We hope and expect an apology from him to the Parliament and the countrymen (on Thomas’s appointment),” senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.
On March 3, the Supreme Court had quashed the appointment of Mr Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner, who was appointed after the recommendation made by a committee headed by the Prime Minister. Mr Thomas is facing a corruption case in a Kerala court relating to Palmolein import scam.
Mr Naidu also demanded that the Prime Minister explain how and why the appointment was made even as he has owned responsibility and is scheduled to make a statement in Parliament.
Mr Naidu recalled that the government went ahead with Mr Thomas’s appointment despite Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj expressing reservations against it.
“With Supreme Court striking down the appointment, the Prime Minister stands exposed. This incident has caused huge embarrassment to the UPA government which is bruised and battered,” he said.
He charged the Prime Minister with having “failed to live upto the expectations of the people” as the government was duty-bound to appoint an officer with impeccable integrity.