VK Singh debunks 'upset' theory

Union Minister V K Singh on Tuesday debunked reports of being upset about being asked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend a reception to commemorate Pakistan’s national day.

As speculation was rife over his possible resignation, Singh asserted that he was “fully committed to my government, specially my prime minister”. “I have not offered to quit,” Singh said on Tuesday night.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi summoned top ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and BJP President Amit Shah to discuss the fallout of the controversy.

A series of tweets by Singh, a former chief of army staff, defining “duty” and “disgust” soon after attending the Pakistan National Day function on Monday evening at the Pakistan High Commission here, were read as his apparent unhappiness over his choice as the government representative for the event.

The Congress launched an offensive against Singh and demanded his removal for expressing his “disgust” with the “double standards of his government”. “Government should sack him or he should act according to his conscience after the flip-flop since Monday,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, claiming that the minister had shown his “vote of no confidence” against the Modi government.

Singh said he was “perplexed and shocked” at the controversy generated over his tweets, which were directed at a “section of the media” who had questioned the Modi government’s stand on Pakistan.