Raising serious doubts over the declaration of assets and liabilities by VP Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Congress said it would seek clarification from the EC.
NEW DELHI: Raising serious doubts over the declaration of assets and liabilities by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Congress on Saturday said it would seek clarification from the Election Commission before commenting on the issue.
"The documents that we received from the media did not bear any signature. How can we believe such documents," said Union Minister P R Dasmunsi, who is also the representative of the UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil.
Asked whether Patil would follow suit and declare her assets and liabilities, Dasmunsi said he would comment only after verifying the documents purportedly submitted by Shekhawat to the Election Commission.
"I have been told by the Returning Officer that he has not received any documents from Shekhawat. I would verify with the poll authorities first and then comment," he said.
Terming the declaration of assets by Shekhawat as "drama" and "belated wisdom", Dasmunsi said "if he had a clear conscience he should have done it at the time of filing the nomination papers".
He pointed out that Shekhawat had refused to resign from the post of Vice President before entering the Presidential fray stating that the Constitution did not make it mandatory.
"Declaration of assets by Presidential nominee is also not mandatory as per the Constitution. If he wants to take high moral ground he should have resigned as Vice President," Dasmunsi said adding Shekhawat was not an ideal model for Indian democracy.
Dasmunsi also found fault with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's appeal to the Electoral College seeking support for Shekhawat's candidature.
He took exception to Vajpayee reference to Congress' "unprincipled opposition to Kalam" and said that the party had only following the convention of single term for the President.
Dasmunsi said the UPA had also followed the convention according to which the government of the day announces its nominee for the post of President, which is backed by the opposition.
He also pointed out that Vajpayee had himself favoured consensus on the Presidential nominee and termed the reference to the "unprincipled opposition of Kalam" as a "distortion of facts."
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