DDCA row: Kirti Azad threatens 'more revelations', Congress says his ouster shows BJP's style

Suspended by BJP, Darbhanga MP Kirti Azad today threatened to roll out “more revelations” in the coming days and said he didn’t expect the party “to stoop so low” by acting against him for “speaking against corruption”. The Congress Party reacted swiftly to the latest on the DDCA row saying Azad’s ouster reflects the BJP high command’s favorite method of functioning - “my way or highway.”

That makes it two angry men from opposite sides finding common ground in BJP-bashing: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Kirti Azad. Azad has rolled out a list of 52 questions for the Finance Minister to answer on financial bungling in the DDCA.

Hours after the winter session of Parliament concluded, the BJP issued a one-line statement: “Kirti Azad, Darbhanga MP, is suspended from party with immediate effect for his anti-party activities.”

Azad plans to go to court, ANI reports.

Azad told The Indian Express that he would file a PIL in the Delhi High Court on the alleged irregularities in the DDCA because the CBI is “moving very slow”.

Ab toh adaalat jana padega, PIL karna padega, baat yahaan tak pahunchi hai toh phir hum kanoon ka raasta hi lenge: Kirti Azad

— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2015

“Wait and watch what I do next. Now I will tell everyone,” he said, adding he will move the party’s ‘margdarshak mandal’ which has party veterans like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to ask if the party suspends someone for speaking against corruption in Delhi’s cricket body.

“I am really very saddened. I never though that BJP would stoop to that level that a person who had joined them from an illustrious Congress family is suspended for fighting corruption,” he said.

“I will go to the ‘margdarshak mandal’ and ask them that if a person speaks against corruption does the party crucify such a person and suspend him,” Azad said when asked about his next move.

Ab to maze dekhiye aage aage kya hota hai: #KirtiAzad after his suspension from BJP #KirtiAzadSuspendedhttps://t.co/aWjshGmcRa

— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 23, 2015

Questioning his suspension, he said the party did not follow the due process and also did not serve a show cause notice before taking such an action against a Member of Parliament.

“The due process has not been followed. They did not serve a show cause notice. If you have to suspend an MP, you have to move the Parliamentary Board. Did you do that? How can they violate the very own laws that have been made by us,” he questioned.

Terming the charges levelled against him as “laughable”, he rejected that he “colluded” with Opposition in attacking senior party leaders like Arun Jaitley and said it is the Opposition which has picked up the issues raised by him for the last nine years.

“Who said I have teamed up? This issue I have been raising is very old, I haven’t teamed up with the Opposition. It is a matter of regret that Opposition has picked up the issue which I was raising,” he said.

Bina mauka diye hue, ye kaunsa loktantra hai? Ye ISIS ki baat hai kya? -#KirtiAzad after suspension from BJP pic.twitter.com/UrNQGwNB2A

— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2015

“Now you see and look at the Opposition, how they will have them. They will use my name and attack. My party gave it to them on the platter, not me,” he said, adding that those who have suspended him for raising a voice against corruption have “defamed” the Prime Minister.

I request the PM to intervene and decide on this matter-Kirti Azad after suspension from BJP pic.twitter.com/Ls6W4bTc39

— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2015

He added that he is yet to get any letter and asked, “Which letter? I have not received any letter yet. I have just reached Ahmedabad. I will see.”

Azad said he felt “let down” by the party as the man against whom he raised charges did not put up a defamation case against him, but the party for which he has fought for all these years has served him a show cause.

“Azad’s suspension reflects Modi’s style”

The Congress took a dig at the BJP over suspension of party MP Kirti Azad, saying that it was an illustration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dictatorial style of functioning.

The suspension of Kirti Azad from the Bharatiya Janata Party is nothing but a manifestation of the corruptionphilia that grips the party, Congress leader Randip Surjewala said in a statement on Wednesday.

It is yet another statement on Modi’s and BJP president Amit Shah’s style of functioning that is nothing but ‘my way or highway’, Surjewala said.

He also said that BJP leaders facing allegations were sheltered by Modi’s “immunity” and complainants against corruption were suspended.

“Is this what probity and accountability in public life is all about,” the Congress leader said.

The BJP on Wednesday suspended Kirti Azad, who has alleged large-scale corruption in Delhi’s cricket body when it was headed by now Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

With Agencies