Cong allegations against Sushma 'wild', without substance, says BJP

Bhopal: Squarely blaming Congress for the washout of the Monsoon session of Parliament, the BJP on Friday said allegations levelled by Congress over Lalit Modi row and other issues, were “wild” charges without any substance.

“Allegations are of two types - wild allegations and substantive allegations. Besides, the charges should have been pointed out either by a constitutional authority, investigative agency or by a court,” BJP Spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said.

“In the case of 2G, Commonwealth Games scam, and Coalgate, which the BJP had raised during UPA-II regime, all allegations were levelled after they were pointed out by the three agencies,” Trivedi said.

But the charges levelled by Congress, which is its right being in opposition, are not pointed out by any of the three agencies, he said.

The allegations levelled against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, to which she had already given a sound reply in the Lok Sabha, has no basis as she had extended help to tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi’s ailing wife on humanitarian grounds, Trivedi said.

Similarly, when opposition wanted to raise issues related to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scandal, BJP responded by raising issues of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, both Congress ruled states, but Congress backtracked on the issue, he claimed.

Trivedi further said when the opposition finally agreed for a discussion in the House, it insisted on reply by the Prime Minister, despite the fact that charges were levelled against Swaraj and she had responded to them in a sound manner.

Besides, Congress had no answers on the issues raised by Swaraj in the matter of Bofors and Union Carbide’s Warren Anderson.

Meanwhile, Trivedi reiterated Swaraj’s allegation that Anderson was allowed to flee as a ‘quid-pro-quo’ arrangement to secure the release of one Adil Shahryar, who was the friend of the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and was serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US.

The leader also alleged that after his release from the US, Shaharyar came back to India in an official plane with Rajiv Gandhi after his visit to that country.

PTI