Saturday, June 11 2005 15:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Former President of the erstwhile Samatha Party, Jaya Jaitley today (June 11, 2005) accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee of "blatantly lying" about the Phukan Commission report on the alleged Defence deals exposed in the Tehelka tapes.

"It is a shame that people holding the highest office are blatantly lying about the Phukan Commission report through the media and hiding the truth from the public", she charged while participating in a seminar on "Phukan Commission and the right to truth" here.

Referring to their (PM and Defence Minister) television interview to a private channel, Jaitley said, "While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has denied Justice Phukan giving any report, Defence Minister says it is only a 47 page summary that has been given, which is nothing but a total lie".

Justice Phukan had submitted "not one but 700-page long report to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who did not table it as elections were near and the report was yet to be completed".

The very fact the persons holding the highest office are "lying about the report and misleading the public shows that there is something more than really meets the eye, something really big that they are trying to hide", she asserted.

"The very commission was disbanded for not doing its job and taking undue time which is nothing but a mockery of judges and commissions of inquiries. It is a dangerous trend and needs to be checked", Jaitley alleged.