“I respect the judgment of the Supreme Court… I accept responsibility,” Dr Singh told reporters in here. Dr. Manmohan Singh said it was necessary to ensure that such things did not happen again. He said this is not a question that relates to coalition compulsions.
The PM, however said that he would make statement on the issue in the parliament soon. He did not specify time of his proposed statement.
Reacting to the Prime Minister’s statement, Sushma Swaraj tweeted, “I appreciate the statement of the Prime Minister owning responsibility for the appointment of CVC which has been quashed by Supreme Court. I think this is enough. Let matters rest at this and we move forward.”
Opposition parties have targeted the PM and his government for picking Thomas as CVC despite his having been named in a case of corruption almost 20 years ago when he was the Food Secretary in Kerala.
Thomas’ name was cleared by a three-member committee headed by the PM that had on it Home Minister P Chidambaram and BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. The committee insisted on Thomas even though Sushma Swaraj argued that the criminal case of corruption against him should have ruled him out.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court quashed the Thomas’ appointment terming it as illegal.