After inviting condemnation from his party and the opposition, coal minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal says media twisted his statement.
The Congress may not come up trumps in the UP polls, but it has definitely taken the lead in creating controversies with statements from its senior leaders. While Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Beni Prasad Verma have already incurred the Election Commission’s wrath with their outbursts on Muslim reservations, Rahul Gandhi has been booked for defying official orders in his road show in Kanpur recently. Now, Union Coal Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal has virtually done a foot-in-the-mouth by saying that president’s rule would be the only option in UP if the Congress does not form the government here after the elections.
However, he later did a volte face, blaming the media for twisting what he had. Jaiswal’s indiscreet remark came soon after he had voted in Kanpur on Thursday morning. Jaiswal said, “The Congress will get the majority and form the government in UP. But if we do not get the numbers, there is no option except for president’s rule.”
By the time Jaiswal reached Delhi in the afternoon, his remark had already created a storm in UP’s political circles. Sources said he was also censured by the party high command and asked to make amends immediately. Jaiswal complied and told reporters that his statement had been “twisted” and reported out of context.
“I had only interpreted the Constitution in reply to questions from reporters,” Jaiswal tried to explain. “The reporters were asking me what would happen if no party got a majority, and in reply I said the president’s rule would be the only option in such circumstances. That is the constitutional provision,” he added.
However, that is far from the truth. TV channels played Jaiswal’s statement over and over again throughout the day in which he was clearly heard saying that president’s rule would be the only option if the Congress failed to form a government in UP.
Rival parties also did not buy his explanation. “Jaiswal’s statement only shows the feudalistic mentality of the Congress,” Uma Bharti said in Mahoba from where she is contesting the election. “Rahul Gandhi and his sister are campaigning along with her entire family, even then the Congress is losing badly. This only shows their desperation,” she added.
“This is clearly a threat to the people of UP. It looks as if they already know about their defeat,” said UP Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav in Etawah. “The Congress is trying to create a fear psychosis among the people that if they don’t form the government, the state will be under president’s rule. Democracy is not run with fear and threats,” he remarked.
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