Businessman Robert Vadra who has found himself in the centre of a political storm following allegations leveled against him by Arvind Kejriwal, has said that he is the victim of a ‘cheap publicity stunt’ by Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan.
Vadra was quoted by the NDTV news channel as saying, “This is a cheap publicity stunt by Arvind Kejriwal to launch his political career.”
He added that he was a “private law abiding citizen who has been engaged in business over the last 21 years”, and said that his business transactions were fully reflected in financial statements filed before appropriate authorities in compliance with the law.
Vadra has said he is a victim of a cheap publicity stunt
Vadra also said he was ‘saddened’ by the attempts to malign him and his family, adding that the allegations against him were false, baseless and defamatory.
The use of the word defamatory here is interesting, because it hints of possible future legal action, although Vadra has not made any such claim as yet.
Vadra’s response came amid a statement by DLF which categorically denied that it sold any of its assets to Vadra at throwaway prices, or the existence of a quid pro quo in the business transactions.
“We wish to categorically state that the DLF has given no unsecured loans to Vadra or any of his companies,” said the statement released on Saturday, a day after Kejriwal’s surprise attack on Vadra and the company.
However responding to the DLF statement, Kejriwal said it was full of ‘half truths and lies’, and said that he would launch a full counter response to the DLF statement on Monday.
Kejriwal also threw out a challenge to Vadra, saying, “Does Robert Vadra stand by DLF response or does he have another version? Wud appreciate his response”
