Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who was forced to resign yesterday, put up a brave face today claiming he quit to end an “unnecessary” controversy and maintained that the Supreme Court had made no adverse comments against him in the case of vetting a CBI graft probe report.
Making a brief statement to reporters, he said resignation does not imply “wrongdoing“.
“I have yesterday tendered my resignation to the honourable Prime Minister while thanking him for giving me the opportunity to be a part of his team.
“I have done so to put an end to an unnecessary controversy in a matter which is before the honourable Supreme Court and in which no adverse comments have been made against me in any manner whatsoever. My conscience remains clear and I believe that I will stand vindicated because divine justice ordains that truth and justice will prevail,” Kumar said in a statement.
Kumar, who is under attack over vetting of CBI report in the probe into coal block allocation scam, submitted his resignation yesterday.
He also said there are certain political decisions that are considered necessary and he did what the Prime Minister and the party high command thought was appropriate.
Asked whether he has been made a scapegoat, Kumar refused to make a comment but said he would rather let people make a judgement.
“People of this country, my friends who stood by me, many of you in media and my esteemed colleagues in the profession know me for what I am. I would rather let them make a judgement,” he said.
To a poser on his decision to resign if he has done no wrong, he said when resignation papers are put, “they do not, by any stretch of imagination, imply any wrongdoing”.
“There are certain political decisions that are considered necessary...no adverse comments have been made against me (by the Supreme Court) in any manner whatsoever. My conscience remains clear and I believe that I will stand vindicated.”
Kumar said whatever the Prime Minister and the party high command thought fit, “as a loyal foot soldier I have done and I am proud of the fact that I am a loyal foot soldier of the party.”
Asked whether his resignation was an indication that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has lost confidence in him, the former Law Minister replied in a negative. “I do not think I have lost the support of any leader,” he said.
He rejected suggestions that making him quit along with Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on separate issues was ’unfair’ on part of the Prime Minister. “It is prerogative of the Prime Minister to ask his colleagues when to resign and how to resign,” he said.
Some supporters, who had gathered at his official residence, raised slogans in support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Ashwani Kumar.
Kumar, in his resignation letter, had said he was resigning to put an end to “unnecessary controversy” and "public perception of any wrongdoing".
He maintained that the Supreme Court had not passed any strictures against him.
His exit from the Union Cabinet came after a controversy broke out over his meeting with the CBI Director and making changes in the the agency’s draft probe report on Coalgate to be submitted to the apex court.