Singhvi stays away from parliament

New Delhi - After giving up his position in a parliamentary committee and the Congress party over an alleged sleaze CD, Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi chose to stay away from the parliament Tuesday. Party colleague Salman Khurshid defended Singhvi, saying it was his private matter.

Singhvi was absent from the parliament as its budget session resumed fearing that the opposition might raise a storm over the issue.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding an explanation from Singhvi, Khurshid said: “You cannot treat everything in the same manner... parliament must be concerned about procedure and issues and when it comes to private lives of people, I think it should be handled in a different manner.”

Replying to a question on the Congress party raising a hue and cry when BJP legislators in Gujarat and Karnataka were allegedly caught on camera watching porn in the assembly, Khurshid said: “There is no private life when you are sitting inside the assembly.”

Meanwhile, a source in the Congress party said Singhvi was also likely to lose his party posts including that of the legal and human rights department.

Singhvi was the Congress party spokesman and head of the parliamentary committee on law and justice, the positions from which he stepped down Monday.

Singhvi had said he did so to “avoid further damage to the party's image”, adding that “all allegations are patently baseless and false”.