Asked for papers, didn't agree to be part of 'one nation, one poll' panel: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday denied the claims purportedly of the ruling establishment that he had given his assent to be in the government-constituted high level committee on 'one nation, one poll' - before he declined the post - but said he had been approached by the government in this regard. Chowdhury maintained that when the principal secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approached him with the proposal to include him in the panel, he had only asked for more documents regarding the committee.

"On 31st (August) at 11 pm, my office secretary received a call from PM's Principal Secretary Mishra. He told me that the government is going to make a committee under the chairmanship of former president (Ram Nath) Kovind and that they wanted to include me in the committee. I asked him to send all papers related to 'one nation, one election' and that after seeing the papers, I will inform them about my decision," Chowdhury told journalists here and stressed he was contacted by only an officer, not by any minister.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury refuted reports quoting government sources as claiming that he had given his consent to be in the panel but opted out of it only after a direction from the Congress leadership and challenged anyone to come out and speak so in public.


After the government announced the committee last Saturday evening, the Congress leadership dismissed the panel for exploration of 'one nation, one election' as an attempt to sabotage Indian democracy and within an hour, Chowdhury wrote to home minister Amit Shah declining the offer to be in the panel.