By IANS,
New Delhi: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday read out parts of his statement twice in the Lok Sabha on the attack on CRPF troopers in Srinagar, adding to the list of his gaffes.
According to parliament sources, Shinde stopped only when an official pointed it out to him that he had read out parts of his statement twice. BJP members protested the issue.
Controversies are not new to the political leader from Maharashtra, who started off as a police inspector, quit the force and rapidly climbed the political ladder to become the Maharashtra chief minister and later a central minister.
Recently, Shinde, who regretted his January statement linking the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to terrorism, was in the eye of a storm over the alleged intelligence failure behind the Hyderabad blasts that killed 16 people and injured 117.
The issue had rocked parliament as opposition parties attacked the government after Shinde said there were prior intelligence reports about the blasts.
Shinde was also criticised for the delay in intimating the family of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru about his execution Feb 9, denying the family basic human courtesy.
Earlier this month, while making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the rape and murder of three minor sisters in Bhandara in Maharashtra, Shinde named all the victims, which according to the law is prohibited. This drew the ire of BJP members and the deputy chairman expunged the names from the records.
In December last year, during the visit of Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, BJP leader Yashwant Sinha hit out at Shinde for “not responding appropriately” to Malik’s controversial remarks about 26/11 Mumbai attacks’ mastermind Hafiz Saeed and the Babri Masjid issue.
Malik compared the 2008 Mumbai attacks with the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992.
However, he later claimed his statement was misunderstood.
Shinde was made the home minister after incumbent P. Chidambaram moved to the finance ministry in August 2012. He was also made Leader of the Lok Sabha after Pranab Mukjerjee vacated the post when he was elected the president in July.
Shinde is considered to be Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s choice for the high-profile post of India’s home minister as a reward for his loyalty to the party leadership.