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Krishan Kant rejects plea to warn CBI against leaking information

Rajya Sabha chairman Krishan Kant today rejected a demand by Congress members to direct the government to make a statement warning the Central Bureau of Investigation against the leak of information regarding the call to probe leading politicians in investigations into the Romesh Sharma case.

In a special mention, leader of the opposition Manmohan Singh said his party had taken a serious view of the leak and demanded that Home Minister L K Advani respond.

He said his party was not for protecting any person in the case, but the trail through the press must stop since it amounted to maligning politicians. He was backed by Congress members Jitendra Prasada and Vylar Ravi.

Krishan Kant, however, told the members that he could not do anything if newspapers printed something they did not like.

Prasada also caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha when he claimed the BJP had given a clean chit to its members involved in the Ramesh Sharma.

Leader of the House Sikandar Bakht said he would convey the views expressed to the home minister.

The newspaper had named the politicians the CBI sought to question: former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, Tamil Maanila Congress chief G K Moopanar, former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, former minister of state for home Subodh Kant Sahay, former minister of state for external affairs R L Bhatia, MP Jitendra Prasada, MP D P Yadav, former minister of state for external affairs Salman Khurshid, former Union minister C M Ibrahim, MP Sushil Kumar Shinde, MP M K Subba, former minister of state for home Maqbool Dar, former Union minister Satya Prakash Malviya, former MP Shiv Charan Singh, MP Swaraj Kaushal, UP MLA Pramod Tiwari, former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Delhi Congress leader H K L Bhagat.

The CBI had also sought to investigate 18 government officials, among them PMO secretary N K Singh special secretaries ministry of home, Nikhil Kumar and M B Kaushal, and 14 police officials.

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