Point made, Jaswant quits as Public Accounts Committee chief

Darjeeling MP and former BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Wednesday resigned as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a post he had adamantly refused to vacate following his expulsion from the BJP. Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde is being considered as his replacement.

Jaswant Singh confirmed he had resigned as chairman of the PAC and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s office confirmed the resignation was accepted.

Singh denied that his resignation was a softening of ties between him and the BJP, which expelled him in August after his book on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He also denied it had anything to do with the continuance of his son, former Barmer MP Manvendra Singh, in the party. “I wanted to establish a point, which has got established, which is the primacy of autonomy of functioning of Parliamentary Committees,” Singh said. His tenure will officially be terminated on December 31 as three reports overseen by him were to be tabled.