The Congress on Wednesday distanced itself from demands for the removal of Delhi police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar in the wake of the brutal gangrape of a girl and the handling of the agitations over it.
"The chief minister is completely different from the party. CM is CM and what Sandeep Dikshit (Congress member of Parliament) had said he had said in his capacity as MP.
"If it is party's statement, we will say it from here (All India Congress Committee podium)," Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhry told reporters when asked about the reported stance of the chief minister and her son for Kumar's removal.
At this point of time, she said, the party does not have a stand (on the removal). An inquiry was going on and till that time it was completed, "we can't take any such stand," she said.
Chowdhry said she did not see why suspending someone was an answer. The criminals were recorded in record time and a lot of restraint was shown by the Delhi police till some lumpen elements created a problem, she said in apparent defence of the police.
"If change of the police commissioner could make a difference then change, fine. But when the issue is so hot, I don't think removing someone is the answer. Transfer, posting and suspension can take place later also," the spokesperson said.
The chief minister and the Delhi police are involved in a tiff over the gang rape incident and the subsequent events including the use of force by police on the agitators.
Dikshit had written a letter to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on alleged interference by the police in the recording of statement of the rape victim by a sub- divisional magistrate. The Police Commissioner has strongly rejected the charge.
