Leakage of Liberhan report question of parliamentary privilege: Joshi

The "selective leakage" of Liberhan report raises questions of parliamentary privileges, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today said and accused the government of trying to deflect attention from pressing issues like price rise and corruption.

"The selective leak is not acceptable. The full report of the Commission along with the Action Taken Report should be tabled in Parliament...we are ready if the government tables it today itself," Joshi told reporters outside Parliament House. He said the "leak" raised the issue of parliamentary privileges and the government should clarify whether the media report was true or not.

Questioning the timing of the news report, he said "they (government) are not interested in discussing issues like price rise, corruption, terrorism, climate change and Madhu Koda. This is a politically motivated scheme."

Deputy leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said that there was no doubt that the report was leaked by "authoritative sources". She said there were several reasons behind the "leak" -- one of them being that the government was "rattled" by the unity of the opposition on sugarcane price issue and wanted to break it. There was also an "well-planned strategy" to "mislead" the people ahead of Jharkhand polls, she said.

On former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's name appearing in the report, she said, "People are surprised to find Vajpayee's name. We want the report to be tabled in Parliament and a full discussion on it."