Ex Auditor General Misled Nation, Is "Maafi-Jeevi": Congress Leader

Dubbing former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India Vinod Rai as a "maafi-jeevi" (someone who regularly has to apologise for wrongs), Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday said the former should apologise to the nation for misleading it, just like he did to his party colleague Sanjay Nirupam.

Addressing a news conference, Mr Maken also demanded that those involved in the anti-corruption movement during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-2 regime, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Indian Police Service officer-turned-politician Kiran Bedi, Gen VK Singh (retd) and yoga guru Ramdev, should also apologise to the nation for "spreading lies" against the then Manmohan Singh government.

Mr Maken said cabinet members in the Manmohan Singh government are undertaking an exercise all over the country under which they are making people aware of "falsities" spread during the UPA-2 regime. Mr Maken had served in Mr Singh's cabinet.

Last week, Mr Rai tendered an unconditional apology to Mr Nirupam for "wrongly mentioning" him as one of the MPs who had pressured him to not name former Prime Minister Mr Singh in the CAG report on the 2G spectrum allocation.

Mr Nirupam had filed a defamation case after the former CAG made the allegation in his book in 2014 and repeated it in interviews to the media.

"The one (Rai) who was made the Comptroller and Auditor General by the Congress should apologise to Sanjay Nirupam. The way Vinod Rai apologised to Sanjay Nirupam, he should also apologise to the country. Not only Vinod Rai, but whoever was involved in the movement should apologise to the nation," Mr Maken asserted.

Classifying Rai as a "maafi-jeevi", Mr Maken said "maafi-jeevi are a type of people who misguide (Bhram) people and then apologise", adding that Mr Kejriwal was part of the same category as he had apologised to Congress leaders four times in the past.

"At that time, the then Congress government was defamed using jhoot (lies). Now after seven years, every layer of lies is coming off. This was a well thought out conspiracy," Mr Maken said.

The explosive CAG reports were one of the reasons that led to the massive anti-corruption movement by social activist Anna Hazare which shook the UPA-2, as well as one of the reasons the Congress was pummeled in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.