Marine return a diplomatic success: PC
New Delhi, Mar 22 :Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said Italy's decision to send back two marines to India for facing trial here in the high seas shooting of two Kerala fishermen is a success of Indian diplomacy.
"So, the government's diplomacy succeeded," said Chidambaram who also smiled at questions that combined opposition pressure forced the government to take a tough stand as claimed by the opposition BJP.
"It is government which does diplomacy," he said, adding that people know it.
"If the government's diplomacy succeeds and BJP takes credit, I have no problem. But, ultimately it's the government's diplomacy which has succeeded," he said.
Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) welcomed the Italian government's decision to return to India two Italian marines facing trial here and said it was the result of the combined effort by the Opposition and the tough stand taken by the Supreme Court on the matter.
"Must say the combined effort of the Opposition working unitedly to persuade the government to carry on its diplomacy seems to have worked. The tough stand taken by the Supreme Court also had its impact," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told media.