The Congress on Saturday distanced itself from the remarks of Singh that two hours before the 26/11 attacks Karkare had called him and informed him that his life was under threat from those who opposed to his probe into the Malegaon blast.
According to the party, Singh's conversation with Karkare was personal and that he had now chosen to make this dialogue public. Janardhan Dwivedi, chairman of the AICC's media department said, "The Congress is not part of this dialogue between Karkare and Digvijay and the party does not want to react to this". He said whatever needs to be further said on this issue will be said by Singh himself.
In a bid to clarify his earlier remarks, Singh said later in the day that neither had he asked for an inquiry into the killing of Karkare nor has he doubted the findings of the investigation, which have been carried out.
The Congress general secretary said that since a the book Who Killed Karkare, written by Inspector General of Police S M Mushrif, was recently released, he made public the conversation he had with the ATS chief, just before the terror strike.
It may be recalled that A R Antulay, the then minority affairs minister, had set off a major political row by demanding a probe into the shooting of Karkare, two months after the terror attacks. He had also linked the ATS chief's death to investigations into the alleged involvement of Hindu radicals in the Malegaon blast case.
Back then, the Congress had distanced itself from Antulay as well.
