TNI Bureau: Senior leaders of BJP on Wednesday dismissed the allegations of corruptions levelled against BJP Chief Nitin Gadkari by IAC activist-turned Politician Arvind Kejriwal, and termed the accusations as an “attempt to make a mountain of what is not even a molehill.”
Answering questions on the IAC’s charge that the Maharashtra government had illegally allotted land to a firm run by Mr. Gadkari, Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Jaitley insisted that there was nothing illegal about it.
Meanwhile, the IAC website claims that Gadkari has “five power-producing industries and three sugar industries in Maharashtra.” The website also reads, “In a short span, Gadkari has built a huge business empire, with more than 15 companies in several sectors, including construction, sugar, distillery, power, coal, agro, etc.”
Gadkari , however, clarified that the cooperative sugar factories, power plants and the Purti Group of companies he took over were debt-ridden. “I am not an office-bearer of any of these organizations. Despite huge losses, I took over them for the cause of farmers,” Gadkari added.
“When I filed my nomination papers for legislative council election in 2008, my total assets were worth Rs 8 crore and liabilities stood at Rs 2 crore. That includes my car and ancestral property. Since then, there has been no change in the assets and liabilities,” Gadkari told.
Addressing to media, Mr. Jaitley said, “Today’s press conference [of Mr. Kejriwal] was a failed attempt to bring a moral equivalence between the BJP and the Congress… After all the suspense, it was a mountain of what was not even a mole hill…,” They argued that Mr. Kejriwal had failed to prove a “single case of corruption” in its allegations against Mr. Gadkari.
Similarly, Sushma Swaraj, hitting out against the IAC, said, “They dug a lot for proof but found nothing, since there is nothing… Moreover, since they had announced they would reveal a lot of corruption against Gadkari they were forced to hold the press conference… It was like crying wolf when there was actually nothing,”
Targeting IAC leader Arvind Kejriwal, Sushma Swaraj said that since he failed to find anything against Gadkari “he combined all the parties together and painted them as corrupt.”
The BJP president further said that he had never indulged in any corrupt practices. “My life is an open book;It is a design to tarnish my image… it is very sad,” added Gadkari.