Under fire from the BJP over the contents of the leaked draft JPC report, panel chairman P C Chacko on Monday denied that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s name had figured in the report.
“I want to confirm that I have not taken anyone’s name in this report. This must be someone’s imagination. They must have calculated who was in power or in office in a particular period. I have not named Vajpayee or any minister in the report. There is no such thing,” he said.
The JPC chairman said he was also “in favour of a probe” into the leakage of the draft report.
“If they (Opposition parties) have moved such a motion, I am with it because we have always faced the problem... (At)every meeting, I used to tell my colleagues that please don’t let out the classified information to the media. But despite that, it was leaked,” he said.
“This time when the draft report was prepared, I took special caution that sealed covers were made and it was sent to everyone through special messengers. How can anybody exercise more caution than this? If there is any confusion over leakage, then notice should be taken,” it said.
Asked if he was guilty of leaking the report, Chacko said, “The question is how it got leaked to the media. I cannot be held responsible for it.”