Congress to flag alleged Arnab WhatsApp chats in Parliament

Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said that the alleged social media chats between journalist Arnab Goswami and the former rating agency official is a serious threat to the national security. He further said that the issued would be raised in the Parliament.

New Delhi:Former external affairs minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said that the party will raise the issue of purported Whatsapp chats of TV journalist Arnab Goswami in the Parliament as the matter pertains to national security.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Khurshid said, "We have not made any demands except for emphasizing on facts for the public to respond. We want the public and the media to reflect. But we will bring these matters before Parliament to see what kind of steps are required to be taken. We will make that demand in the Parliament."

Earlier today, Congress' top senior leaders and former Union Ministers AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Salman Khurshid held a press conference, demanding an inquiry on the leaking of information pertaining to Balakot airstrike.

During the press conference, Khurshid also raised serious concerns over the judicial system of the country, while mentioning some instances from the conversation, which revealed some examples of influence peddling and attempts to influence the judiciary.

"We value the judiciary, we cherish the judiciary and we respect the judiciary. But we are feeling disturbed by the kind of insinuations and statements that are made in that chat. We believe that it is irresponsible, denigrating of the dignity of the judiciary and we have indicated that perhaps the judiciary itself or the Government needs to do something about it," the Congress leader told ETV Bharat.

As the tenth round of meeting between the Central Government and farmers union was held today, Congress had no expectations of the deadlock being resolved.

"One should never give up hope but the way Government is dealing with it, I can't see anything coming up out of it. The farmers have made it very clear what their bottom line is. But that bottom line is something which the Government is not responding to. So, how will there be any settlement?" Khurshid asked.

While the next round of meeting has been scheduled for January 22, the Government has also offered to amend the three contentious farm laws but farmer leaders stuck to their demand for a complete repeal of the Acts.