Sources said that the written reply Verma sent to the Commission before the expiry of the 5 pm deadline, he claimed that as party leader, he had just stated the promises that were part of the Congress manifesto.
The Minister, who had earlier feigned selective amnesia claiming he did not remember his remark in which he dared the EC to take action against him before partially owning up to the “slip of tongue”, has reportedly adopted a conciliatory note saying that he had utmost respect for the EC and his remarks were not against the model code of conduct.
According to sources, Verma’s arguments are that Para 1 (3) of the Model, which prohibits making appeals to voters on caste or communal lines for securing votes, does not stop one from informing voters if a particular party comes to power after election, its Government would ensure provisions of welfare measures for backward or disadvantaged classes.
However, the BJP has charged that Verma’s remark, despite warnings from the Election Commission, constitute a “criminal offence” and demanded that appropriate criminal proceedings are begun against him. Terming it a deliberate action and not a mistake or default, BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that most stringent action should be taken against Verma.
He charged the Congress leadership of trying to demolish and denigrate the Constitutional authority and said that both — Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Verma, had defied the EC as part of a well thought out strategy. Allowing such “misdemeanors to go scot free” may result in “constitutional anarchy”, especially at a time when Uttar Pradesh is going to polls.
Hitting out at the Cong’s top leadership, the BJP said if Verma claims he had acted as a Congressman, then party president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi should answer for the “unconstitutional attributes and utterances of their senior colleagues like Verma and Khurshid”.
Meanwhile, the Congress, which earlier directed party leaders to respect Constitutional bodies and had left the Steel Minister to fend for himself, came to the beleaguered leader’s defence saying that the intent of the Minister’s remark was neither to vitiate any law nor to violate any code of conduct.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that Verma is “a very veteran politician”, and there was no question of slightest disrespect to the EC intended or done in any manner because “I know Verma holds it (Election Commission) in the highest esteem”.
Singhvi, who is a senior Supreme Court advocate, had earlier represented Salman Khurshid before the EC for a similar act of defiance, said, Verma will request the EC to take a balanced view of the whole episode and make it clear that he did not intend to assail the dignity of the EC.
The Election Commission will hold a meeting on Tuesday in which Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and both Election Commissioners VS Sampath and HS Brahma will consider Verma’s reply and take a decision on the matter.
The Commission, after examining the video recordings of Verma’s speech on February 15 at a rally in Farrukhabad in UP in which he had said “reservation for Muslims will be increased and if the EC wants, it can now issue a notice to me”, had issued a showcause notice to him on Saturday saying that it “is prima facie satisfied” that the Steel Minister had “deliberately and willfully” violated the model code of conduct.”
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