Rajya Sabha disrupted on Monday over Ved Pratap Vaidik - Hafiz Saeed meeting

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha was disrupted on Monday, with the Congress targeting the government over an Indian journalist’s meeting with the main accused of 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack Hafiz Saeed, even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley clarified that the government had not employed Ved Pratap Vaidik as part of any backchannel dialogue.

Vaidik met Saeed as well as Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during what he described as a personal visit to Pakistan recently. He said he was not the government’s envoy in any way. However, the Congress said Vaidik was "very close to the Sangh parivar" and claimed he belonged to the Vivekananda International Foundation whose key members like Ajit Doval were in senior positions in the Prime Minister’s Office.

"Did he go to meet Hafiz Saeed at the instruction of the PM? The PM and the government must come clean on it," Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed asked.

Earlier, in the Rajya Sabha, former ministers Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad also raised questions on the matter, saying it was a serious security lapse.

Jaitley said the government had nothing to do "directly, indirectly or even remotely" with Vaidik’s meeting with Saeed and said the government had not sanctioned permission to anyone for meeting Saeed.