Ram Setu

Ambika Soni's cultural ministry is in the centre of a storm for an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court that said there was no historical proof of Lord Ram's existence.

On Saturday, the minister said she had personally ordered the deletion of the three objectionable lines in the affidavit.

But she claimed the draft affidavit was not prepared by her ministry but by the additional solicitor general or the ASG.

''I'm not blaming anybody else but the affidavit came from ASG,'' said Ambika Soni Union Culture Minister.

Two officials of the ASI have been suspended for not making the changes Soni had suggested in the draft.

The minister has already ordered a probe. On Saturday she met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to explain what went wrong.

And she said she was willing to step down.

''It won't take me a minute to resign if required by the PM and UPA chairperson,'' said Ambika Soni, Union Culture Minister.

But one of her cabinet colleagues feels she should not wait for orders.

''If I were the Culture Minister, I would have resigned immediately. If Lal Bahadur Shastri could resign after a train accident in 1956, then when there has been such an error with a sensitive affidavit, and the feelings of the people have been hurt, I feel the Minister should resign,'' said Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce.

Though the ASG refused to speak on camera, sources in his office said liberty was given to all government departments to make required changes but the change in the culture ministry's affidavit were not communicated to the ASG.

The damage control exercise on the Ram Setu controversy seems to be boomeranging with Congress ministers trying to settle their own political scores.

And despite the opposition attempt to gain political mileage, a full blown-out war has begun within the government over who was responsible for the controversy.

Source: ndtv.com