New Delhi : Rejecting BJP's allegation that P J Thomas' appointment as Central Vigilance Commissioner was a 'cover up' exercise linked to the 2G spectrum scam, Congress on Thursday accused the principal opposition of "baking political bread" over the issue.
"Unfortunately BJP has made a practice of denigarating all institutions in the country be it CBI or CVC. The issue on which the Leader of the Opposition opposed CVC's appointment has no valid ground. But if you want to bake political bread out of every issue, who can stop you," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
He was responding to BJP's attack on the government over the appointment of Thomas. Dubbing the 2G spectrum scam as "maha Bofors", the BJP had on Wednesday targeted the government over the appointment of former Telecom secretary Thomas and said it was done to "cover up" the irregularities in the allocation process.
Claiming to have "dug up" details about Thomas' role in keeping corruption watchdogs like the CVC and Comptroller and Auditor General away from probe into irregularities concerning the 2G spectrum allotment, the main opposition party circulated a document in this regard to the media.
The BJP had also boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of Thomas and senior leader Sushma Swaraj met President Pratibha Patil to protest against his appointment.
Asked about the Union Cabinet's nod to caste census, the Congress spokesperson said the party is with the government over the issue.
"Casteism is the reality of India. If the government of India has recognized this reality and agreed to inclusion of caste in census, nobody should have any objection," he said. Tewari, however, said it would be premature to comment further till the modalities of the exercise are worked out.
Asked about the US indicating that it was looking for "changes" in the Nuclear Liability Bill passed by Parliament here, Tewari said the "bill has been passed by Parliament and now it the land of the law."
US State Department spokesman P J Crowley had said in Washington, "We continue our discussions with Indian Government on this issue and we note that Indian business leaders are concerned about some specific aspects of the law that was just passed by Parliament... We will look to the Indian Government to see what changes can be made."
Tewari, however, said that some people can have objections to it but now it is a law and cannot be changed unless fresh amendments are brought in. PTI
