Congress steers clear of jailed MPs attending parliamentary sessions issue

Congress today steered clear of the issue of permission to jailed MPs to attend monsoon session of Parliament beginning monday."Such matters are entirely between the applicant detainee and the court. There cannot be a general policyapproach. It depends upon the individual merits of each case," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here. He said that neither any political party has any rolenor Parliament or assembly system has any role in such cases.Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, jailed in the multi-crore Commonwealth Games preparations scam, has moved the Delhi high court for permission to attend Parliament.Kalmadi has cited the cases of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, former Bihar MP Pappu Yadav and Jharkand MP Madhu Koda who were allowed to attend Parliamentary sessions under judicial custody.Besides Kalmadi, other MPs at present lodged in Tihar jail are former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK member Kanimozhi. The two are accused in the 2G spectrum scam.