New Delhi: As leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday (August 21) staged a dharna outside the New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police’s office to get the police to register an FIR against the use of pellet guns, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for the first time did not issue categorical denials that shots were fired. Instead, they pointed to the Supreme Court’s high powered committee that will probe the police action on protesters on July 20.This marks a departure from remarks made by three Union ministers in the last month both inside and outside parliament, where they have denied that any shots were fired at all on protesters, even as Union home minister Amit Shah has remained silent.“Most importantly, the people who were victims approached the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court itself constituted a high-powered committee to look into the matter. The committee is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and includes two other judges, a former CBI Director, and another senior official,” said BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday afternoon while addressing a press conference.“So, whether or not shots were fired will itself be a matter of investigation before such a high-powered committee. Then what is the point of all this? Rahul Gandhi, do you have no respect for the rule of law? Can you simply do whatever you feel like, go anywhere, sit on a protest and start creating anarchy?”Later on Friday, Union health minister J.P. Nadda accused Gandhi of conducting “camera-centric” drama by accompanying 19-year-old Sahil Lochab who suffered pellet gun injuries to register an FIR. But crucially Nadda too referred to the Supreme Court committee taking cognisance of the events on July 20, without making any mention of whether shots were fired – a departure from his own statement on just about ten days ago.“The whole country knows that the Supreme Court has already taken cognisance of the July 20th incident and has constituted a five-member high-powered committee headed by a former judge. When the country’s apex court is investigating the matter, what does Rahul Gandhi hope to prove by sitting in front of cameras outside the police station?” said Nadda on Friday.“Does the Leader of the Opposition lack faith in the country’s judiciary? The truth is that Rahul Gandhi is staging this ‘camera-centric’ drama merely to keep himself in the headlines.”While Nadda on Friday did not issue any denials on shots being fired, he had on August 10 while targeting Gandhi, said that the leader of opposition’s intention was to disrupt parliament and that he was “misleading the country that shots were fired in Jantar Mantar”.On July 29, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh became the first Union minister to make any statement on the issue when he said in parliament that it had been “clarified repeatedly that no firing took place”.“It has been clarified repeatedly that no firing took place; only tear gas was used. Jab goli chali hi nai, toh aadhesh dene ka sawal paida hi nahi hota (Since no firing took place, the question of issuing an order does not arise). And the authority to give such an order rests with the magistrate, not the minister,” Singh had said.On August 18, Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju became the third minister to deny that shots were fired.Rijiju’s remarks came in an interview with ANI, where the interviewer asked the minister “Goli toh chali hai (shots have been fired)” but Rijiju hit back immediately to say: “Kaha chali? (where)”. When the interviewer says AK-47 was used, Rijiju then proceeded to defend the police action and said “not a single person died” in the police action on protesters.