Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday rubbished allegations made by the Congress party that the PM’s office had a role to play in cancelling Kerala CM Oommen Chandy’s invite to an event on December 15.
The SNDP which is close to the BJP is set to unveil the statue of former Congress chief minister R Shankar on December 15. Vellapally Natesan, who heads the SNDP, had invited Chandy on December 10, the guest list including Chandy’s name was circulated among the media.
However, earlier last week, Chandy said he withdrew from the event as Natesan, who had invited him, had asked him not to come at the behest of the state BJP unit.
Rajnath Singh categorically denied these allegations and said that a socio-cultural organization like SNDP that was organizing the event had the mandate to invite and cancel invites according to its will.
“The allegations are baseless and unfounded. This government has done what it can to encourage co-operative federalism,” Rajnath Singht told the parliament
Meanwhile, MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy added that Oommen Chandy’s office had written to the PM’s office citing that he would be unable to make it for the event..
Rajnath Singh had responded to Congress MP KC Venugopal’s statement in parliament that the Kerala CM had been insulted and therefore, the prime minister should not attend the event.