Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Oct 18: In a surprising decision, Karnataka Congress turned reporters of two television channels, Times Now and Republic TV, away from its press conference held here on Tuesday October 17. National Media Forum representing the media bodies, sprang to its feet to register strong protest against this move.

This move of the Congress is expected to stoke a controversy. The incident took place at the press conference convened by state Congress working president, Dinesh Gundu Rao. Rao was to speak about the social media strategy of his party in preparation for the coming assembly poll.

Dinesh Gundu Rao

Reports say that Congress party is peeved at the way corruption allegations against Robert Vadra are being handled and covered by these two television channels. When asking reporters of these two channels to get out, Gundu Rao charged both the channels of toeing the instructions of the ruling party at the centre. He accused these channels of working as per the diktats of the ruling party at the centre. "Media should be the mirror of truth, not of BJP," he quipped.

Dinesh said it is left to the centre to conduct the type of investigation of its choice against Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka, who is the daughter of national president of his party, Sonia Gandhi. "In the last 41 months during which period Vadra was subjected to rigorous investigation, nothing objectionable could be found, both in Rajasthan and Haryana. It is proved that he is accountable and transparent," he argued.

Referring to allegations faced by Jay Shah, son of BJP national president, Amit Shah, as reported by the media he wondered why the Prime Minister is not ordering an inquiry against Jay Shah. He wanted the truth to come out in this case, and asked Amit Shah to vacate his position till his son's name of cleared. He urged the Prime Minister to lay bare his mind on this issue, as the populace of the country are eagerly awaiting to know his stand.

National Media Forum, which criticized the move of Rao in sending two of the TV reporters away, said that reporters are given the task of discharging their duties by completing the assignments given to them. Vijay Grover, president of the forum, said in a statement that involving individual reporters in the friction between political parties and TV channels is improper.

The forum said later that Dinesh Gundu Rao has since relented and assured to allow both the channels to cover its party programmes henceforth.