'Remarks against PM, Sonia by Jagan channel serious issue'

NEW DELHI: Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today termed as a "serious issue" the telecast of a programme on rebel Congress MP Jaganmohan Reddy-owned TV channel, projecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in bad light.

"It is a very serious issue... I have received the reports from Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah and PCC", Moily told reporters here.

However, he refused to answer whether disciplinary action was in the offing against Jagan.

He also said that the party high command had not summoned Rosaiah to Delhi over the issue.

Taking a serious note of the issue yesterday, Congress had sought a report from the state unit, even as the channel repeated the programme without some critical captions and voice-overs.

Sakshi, the 24-hour Telugu news channel owned by the 38-year-old Kadapa MP and son of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, had launched a frontal attack on Sonia as well as the organisation in the one-hour programme.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also targeted along with the "coterie around Sonia" for the "sorry state of affairs in Congress."

Rejecting allegations that the programmes showed the Congress President or the Prime Minister in bad light, Sakshi CEO Priyadarshini Ram said the story was not against either Sonia or Singh and maintained that there was no intervention by Jaganmohan with regard to the content of the TV channel.

"It was not a story against...either Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. It was a current story that was based on the 125 years of the Congress party, how it was faring...

"Jaganmohan Reddy, on the day of the inauguration of this media house, made one specific statement saying that this channel would be unbiased, truthful and clear-headed. There is no effort from Jaganmohan Reddy or intervention by him on the content of Sakshi television," Ram had said.

He also clarified that the channel made "no change at all" in the content of the programme that was shown on Friday and Saturday and repeated the telecast at least thrice yesterday.