By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress Monday declined to comment on the controversy surrounding Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh, who had written a letter as an MP in 1997 for expediting issuance of passport of tax evader Hasan Ali Khan, saying the party would not get into the matter.
“We, as a political party, do not hold brief for anyone. The governor has explained his position. The matter is now between the governor and the government of India,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.
Responding to questions regarding Singh’s continuance, he said when a political person assumes a constitutional position, he becomes politically neutral.
“It is a matter between a constitutional functionary and the government. The party should not be getting into it,” he said.
Iqbal Singh Sunday admitted that he had recommended that the passport of Khan, who faces charges of tax evasion and money laundering, be expedited on “humanitarian grounds” but didn’t know him personally.
In a letter to Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Singh said that when he was a Rajya Sabha MP in 1997, a Bihar Congress leader, Amalendu Pandey, approached him for issuance of passport on “compassionate grounds” and that he was told that Khan’s brother was ill abroad.
“I didn’t know Khan at all, neither did I ever meet him. I only issued the letter for expeditious issue of passport… on purely humanitarian and compassionate grounds,” he said in the two-paged letter.
Singh had also told reporters in Delhi that he was ready for any kind of inquiry by any authority.
“As an MP, I have written thousands of letter. I am ready to quit if I am asked to but let there be an inquiry first,” he said.