Sahay not telling the whole truth?

The first bomb blast hit Mumbai at about 6.54 pm. Senior Cabinet minister Subodh Kant Sahay says he was not aware of the incident till about 10 pm in the evening as he was busy attending a fashion show.

This reporter was present at Sahay's house in Delhi at 8 pm on that day and his entire staff was engrossed watching the news of the blasts. The minister left from his residence at about 8.10 pm.

File pic

He was photographed by MiD DAY cameraman Rajeev Tyagi well after 10 pm on the same day at the fashion show. In spite of accepting his fault and social responsibility of not knowing about Mumbaikars being killed in bomb blast, Sahay is now misguiding the country. In his Facebook page he said: "The way media has reported the incident of my participation in a fashion show, I am disappointed with it.

I am also a sensitive and responsible citizen of this country. I was not aware of the bomb blasts and once I came to know about it, I left immediately and kept talking on phone with my contacts in Mumbai. It was the first fashion show of the daughter of an ex-minister and they requested me to wait for 10 minutes to give my blessing to her, which I couldn't ignore. In such circumstances, reporting without asking or knowing the fact, I think, is unjust."

No privacy
Reacting to Sahay's comment, Pradeep Singh, general secretary, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha told MiD DAY: "The life of any politician should be transparent. Politicians do not have any private life. A minister should have all the latest information from all parts of the country every second. He should accept his fault and apologise to the people of the nation."

Jharkhand BJP leaders also demanded the minister give an apology to the people. "The minister is misguiding people by diverting the issue. There is no issue of participating in a fashion show. The issue is the timing of participation," said executive committee member of Jharkhand state BJP, Ramesh Pushkar.u00a0"There is nothing wrong in participating in any fashion show," said a senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named.