“State legal help for Shah-Zada! Tweets Rahul Gandhi
NEW DELHI : Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a dig at the BJP and the Narendra Modi government over the latter extending legal help to party chief Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah, in a defamation case he has filed against a news website over a report about his financial dealings.
However, Rahul did not utter a single word as regards Times Now’s report that his brother-in-law Robert Vadra had links with fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. On Monday, the channel had exposed a nexus between Vadra and Bhandari. The document – in form of emails – revealed that the absconding arms dealer had booked business-class tickets for Vadra in 2012.The Enforcement Directorate will now track Bhandari’s money trail.
The Bharatiya Janata Party earlier today mounted an attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, questioning their “silence” on email trail. While Vadra did not respond to the tough questions posed by Times Now, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi could get “any investigation” done into any allegations against the party chief’s son-in-law to find out if there was any “wrongdoing”.
The BJP fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to attack the Congress leadership over the expose. Sitharaman, while addressing a press conference in Delhi, asked, “Why senior leadership of the Congress, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, is keeping a studied silence?” Robert Vadra had links with absconding arms dealer, reveals email trail
She said the silence of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will be construed as acceptance of charges against Vadra. Waiting for Rahul Gandhi’s poetic explanation: Smriti Irani on Vadra-Bhandari email trail. Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s frequent tweets, the minister wondered why he was keeping silent on this matter.
Asked what the CBI was doing as it was investigating Bhandari, she said this question should be put to the agency. The government is taking all steps to bring the absconding arms dealer back to India to face the law, she added. Party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said, “If you believe that Vadra is innocent, then why not file a defamation suit?… the silence shows guilt.”
In Gandhinagar, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani addressed a joint press conference, asking Rahul Gandhi to break his silence on the issue. Rupani alleged that Vadra has emerged as the “face of crony economy”. Vadra, while not reacting to the allegation, put out a philosophical message. “Good Morning, I am capable, I am strong. If I believe in myself, I can turn my dreams into a plan, and my plan into my reality,” said a quote on his Facebook post along with his photograph and a few horses running by a sea.
Rahul Gandhi weeting that Jay Shah, the son of party chief Amit Shah, was receiving legal help from the government. A tweet from Mt Gandhi’s official handle read, “State legal help for Shah-Zada! Why this, why this Kolaveri Da?” The reference was to a song by Tamil actor, singer and lyricist Dhanush, “Why this Kolaveri di” .
The Tamil word, roughly translated, means “murderous rage” – a poke at the BJP, which has been aggressively countering the Congress demands for an investigation into the allegations of crony capitalism against Jay Shah. The businessman has sued the Wire, a website which had made the allegations in a news report, for defamation, demanding Rs. 100 crore in damages.
The Congress had earlier questioned the propriety of a government law officer representing Jay Shah, who is not part of the government, in the defamation suit. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had earlier said he was being consulted and might appear in court on behalf of Jay Shah.
Amit Shah has said his none of his son’s companies “did even one rupee worth of business” with the government or “received kickbacks like in the case of Bofors”. Challenging the Congress, the BJP chief has said, “If you have documents to prove your allegations, bring them to court”.Mr Gandhi and his party have been hammering away at the BJP over the allegations.
During a visit to Gujarat, where elections will be held later this year, Mr Gandhi had said the BJP’s pre-Lok-Sabha-election promise of “acche din” had materialized only for Mr Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Further, referring to PM Modi’s remark ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that he would prefer to be the “chowkidar” (watchman) of the country’s wealth, the Congress leader had questioned his silence in the matter.
Mr Gandhi’s attacks have drawn the wrath of a few BJP leaders, one of whom, Siddharth Nath Singh, had said, “Rahul Gandhi should step out of his diapers”. Union ministers Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal have also come to Jay Shah’s defence. (With Special Inputs ).
