Ronen Sen tenders unqualified apology before RS Privileges Committee

Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen today tendered an unqualified apology before the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee in connection with his headless chickens comment given to describe those opposing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

New Delhi, Nov. 2 : Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen today tendered an unqualified apology before the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee in connection with his "headless chickens" comment given to describe those opposing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Sen had appeared before the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha on Thursday, and had apologised for his remark.

"It was an act of indiscretion and it should not have been done", Sen told the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee, which is headed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan.

Sen had told the Lok Sabha Committee that his remark was not aimed at Parliamentarians and it was off the record comment.

Both the committees are unlikely to precede against him any further.

Sen's remark to a news portal, which was published on August 20, created a furore in the Parliament.

Sen in an interview to Rediff.com had said, "It has been approved here (in Washington, DC) by the President, and there (in New Delhi) it's been approved by the Indian cabinet. So why do you have all this running around like headless chicken, looking for a comment here or comment there, and these little storms in a tea-cup?"

However, he later apologised, and said those 'informal' remarks were meant to mean journalists and not the politicians.

Earlier, a meeting presided over by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan took the decision to summon Sen before the Upper House's Privileges Committee.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had also referred the issue to the Committee headed by Congress MP V Kishorechandra Deo after receipt of a reply by the External Affairs Ministry.

ANI