By IANS
New Delhi : India’s envoy to the US Ronen Sen, who had angered the MPs with his now famous “headless chicken” remark, may be let off as he tendered another unqualified apology before the Rajya Sabha privileges committee Friday.
Sen, whose remarks were seen as describing critics of the India-US nuclear deal as “headless chicken”, has earlier apologised to the Lok Sabha committee when it summoned him on Oct 29.
According to Rajya Sabha sources, Sen has reiterated that his controversial remarks were not against MPs but media persons who aimlessly went around looking for critical comments on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The 10-member Rajya Sabha panel is headed by deputy chairman K. Rahman Khan.
Sources added that the committees were likely to accept his apology and might not take further action. A final decision is likely to be taken when the Rajya Sabha committee meet on Nov 16.
The Lok Sabha committee would also meet during the winter session, which begins on Nov 15, to take a decision.
Sen was the first diplomat to appear before the parliament privileges panels.
At a time when MPs were debating the nuclear deal in the monsoon session of parliament, Sen was quoted as saying in a media interview: “Why do you have all this running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, and these little storms in a tea cup?”
The remarks infuriated MPs from both the opposition and the government’s communist allies. Sen later said that he was misquoted and his remarks referred not to politicians, but to journalists.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had referred the issue to the committee after receiving a reply by the external affairs ministry saying Sen had already expressed unqualified apology for the remarks, deemed insulting by some politicians.