Veteran journalist and political analyst Ved Pratap Vaidik said Monday that Parliament had every right to take up any issue, including the issue of his recent meeting with 26/11 terrorist mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Lahore, but added that nothing would come out of it.
Talking exclusively to ANI, Vaidik said, "They can raise the issue in Parliament, I welcome it. But nothing will come out of it. I travelled with Salman Khurshid, Mani Shankar Aiyar. Mani Aiyar is like my big brother, and he took me to a seminar."
"As a journalist, I have had many friends there (in Pakistan). I met Hafeez Saeed when my friends told me to do so, and I did it for the benefit of my country. I put my life into danger by meeting him with high security," Vaidik added.
Commenting on the Congress Party objecting to his July 2 meeting with Hafeez Saeed, he said, "Any leader of the Congress Party, who is pointing out this issue, would not have been able to do so."
He also said, "Our trip was sponsored by former foreign minister Khurshid and Mehmood Kasuri's organization as well as by Mani Shankar Aiyar."
Vaidek's response came shortly after parliament, particularly the Rajya Sabha, was in a state of pandemonium on Monday morning, with members cutting across party lines to register their strong protests over his meeting 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Lahore recently.
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While Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati termed it a serious matter and demanded a probe into it, Congress leader and former Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma was quite vitriolic in his criticism of the meeting and the government's less than serious response to it.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who gave the government's response, said that no one in the government had a role to play in organising the visit or the meeting, and the government maintained that Saeed is a terrorist.