The forensic report by a US-based expert ruling out forgery of the signatures of 64 MPs on letters to US President Barack Obama against the grant of a US visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was met with a stoic response from the DMK on Sunday. The party’s spokesperson and Lok Sabha whip T K S Elangovan on Sunday maintained that things might not be entirely straightforward.
“We do not have anything to say about the forensic report. I am repeating what I had said earlier. MPs sign a number of such petitions. Usually, the list of signatures is appended to the petition. I have spoken to all the MPs involved. They are all saying they did not sign this particular petition,” Elangovan told Express.
He further said the list of signatures could have been taken from another petition and appended to the controversial petitions to Obama. Elangovan said this possibility would be taken up by the DMK at the beginning of the coming session of Parliament.
“We will discuss it with leaders like (Sitaram) Yechury and Achuthan as well as others who have denied signing the letters. We will then definitely raise a privilege issue with the Speakers of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,” he added.
He said during the internal enquiries held within the DMK, the party Rajya Sabha MP A A Jinnah had recalled signing a petition relating to issues faced by Muslim lawyers, and expressed suspicion that this signature list could have been appended to the letters to Obama.