The Newshour Direct : Yashwant Sinha

  • 11 years ago
Political storm over Union Defence Minister A K Antony's statement on LoC killing paralysed Parliament on Wednesday (August 7) with an aggressive Opposition accusing him of giving a "clean chit" to Pakistan Army and demanding his apology. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were repeatedly adjourned before being adjourned for the day at 3 PM without transacting any substantive business. Antony, who has been under fire since yesterday for saying that "terrorists along with persons dressed in Pakistan Army uniform", maintained in the Rajya Sabha that his statement was based on "whatever information" he had. He said he would get back to the House if he got more details about yesterday's incident in Poonch after the visit of Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh to Jammu Wednesday.

He asserted that there will be no compromise on defence and protection of integrity of the country. BJP members, however, continued to target him and demanded apology from him for giving an "escape route" to Pakistan to deny involvement of its army in the incident. In the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said Antony cannot give a "clean chit" to Pakistan Army to "please" that country. She said Antony's statement had created "confusion" by trying to absolve the Pakistan Army in the attack and it was a "serious situation". "They (Pakistan Army) come to kill and our Defence Minister says Pakistan Army is not involved," she said amid chants of 'shame shame' from her party colleagues. In an exclusive interview with TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Yashwant Sinha, BJP leader and former Union Finance Minister, talks about about the Govt censorship of the press release.

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