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Rubbishing media reports of him being a part of supporting Congress leader Dr Shashi Tharoor for continuing as the Chairman of the Standing Committee for Information Technology and Communication, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Anil Agarwal on Wednesday clarified that he was not a signatory to any such letter.
The BJP MP wrote to Rajya Sabha Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal clarifying his stand amid reports of him being a signatory to the letter favouring Tharoor's extension. "I wish to clarify to you sir that I have not signed or written any letter that has been stated by certain sections of the media supporting Dr Shashi Shashi Tharoor's name as Chairman of the IT panel. I strongly deny any such news being attributed to me. I have therefore verbally informed the Lok Sabha Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister too, clarifying my position," an excerpt of the letter written by Agarwal to Goyal accessed by ANI read. This comes after a letter surfaced in the public domain wherein several members of the Parliament from the Opposition including Karti Chidambaram, and John Brittas among others wrote a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker for the continuation of Dr Shashi Tharoor as Chairman. Notably, as per the reports, the Parliamentary Standing Committees are going to be reconstituted soon. The reports stated that the government will take away the chairmanship of the IT panel from Congress. One of the names interestingly in the draft letter is that of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Dr Anil Agarwal. Speaking to ANI, Agarwal said, "Let them show me the letter that I have signed because all that I did was speak about the good work Tharoor did as a panel chief. Isn't it a courtesy, as he has been the Chairman of a committee where I was a member of?" ANI also reached out to two Opposition MPs who reportedly have also signed this letter of support for Tharoor. Both the MPs said that they were confident that Agarwal agreed to support the candidature for Tharoor. When asked Agarwal if he would seek any action against the MPs who used his name and reportedly put his name on a letter that he did not sign, he said, "As a worker of the party I have apprised my leaders of what transpired. It is upto the party what they wish to do". The IT committee has been in constant friction between the ruling BJP MPs and the Opposition MPs led by Tharoor. Another member of the committee Dr Nishikant Dubey on several locations has asked for the removal of Tharoor citing his personal party driven-agenda and had also moved a couple of breach of privilege motions against him. (ANI)
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