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BJP leaders come out in Gadkari's defence,
Congress demands answers
Wednesday October 24, 2012 07:48:00 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: The
political row over alleged wrongdoings in business dealings by BJP
chief Nitin Gadkari continued Wednesday with senior party leaders
L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj backing his stand in asking for a
probe and the Congress retorting that it was not enough.
The Congress sought that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief
answer the charges against him and claimed the allegations were
the result of the BJP's internal fights.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, meanwhile, said
in Nagpur that the allegations against Gadkari were a "matter of
the party".
In a statement, Advani termed Gadkari's asking for a probe by the
department of company affairs as a "fair and proper response" and
also sought to point out that the allegations against the BJP
chief were "about standards of business and not misuse of power or
corruption".
Sushma Swaraj said it was "unjust" and "unfair" to accept
allegations against Gadkari without a probe.
She also said that the BJP members "trust" Gadkari and "stand
firmly behind him".
On the other hand, the Congress went on the offensive.
"It is a serious matter. The BJP should clarify as another former
president, Bangaru Laxman, had also faced corruption charges,"
said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi, while his colleague
Sandeep Dikshit said: "Mere asking for a probe is not enough."
Another spokesman Manish Tewari said the episode reflected the
party's rifts.
"The charges are the result of BJP's internal fight," he said.
Advani hoped the government inquiry, announced Tuesday by
Corporate Affairs Minister M. Veerappa Moily, would be "fair" and
uncoloured by its "political hostility" to the BJP.
He said the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) "is trying to
work a strategy to paint the entire political class with the same
brush to minimise and escape its unpardonable sins".
Advani urged the BJP to "be different and should not claim
immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations".
India Against Corruption (IAC) member Arvind Kejriwal had first
levelled allegations against the BJP chief last Wednesday, related
to land deals in Maharashtra. The latest allegations against
Gadkari are about improper business dealings as chairman of the
Purti group.
Media reports Tuesday said an infrastructure company IRB gave a
Gadkari-owned company a loan of Rs.165 crore, two years after the
IRB was awarded road contracts by Gadkari when he was the
Maharashtra PWD minister.
The reports also said the addresses of some of the companies that
had invested in Gadkari's company appeared to be dubious.
The BJP had said any competent authority could probe the charges,
and the Congress seized on the statement.
"It is good that, for the first time, the opposition is saying
that government probe agencies are competent enough to probe into
the matter," said Dikshit.
However, Dikshit said no probe against Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, who has been accused of
corruption in land deals in Haryana involving realty major DLF,
was needed as nothing has been established against him.
"There was nothing illegal in the allotment of land to DLF by the
Haryana government nor did it cause any public loss," said Dikshit,
claiming: "It is a frivolous allegation made by a few persons
without any substantive facts."
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