BJP using ‘crook claims’ to settle scores: Congress

NEW DELHI: Congress said on Sunday that BJP is using the claims made by a “fraudster” languishing in jail for many years to allege corruption against the party and settle political vendetta. It was responding to allegations of extortion levelled against Congress by BJP, citing statements by Yes Bank co-founder Rana Kapoor to the Enforcement Directorate.
Showing surprise that the government was using a transaction made in 2010 to level fresh allegations against Congress, party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “It is absolutely disgusting that a 2010 transaction by a person who is behind bars for years, whose 20-30 bail applications have been rejected, and who is called a crook and a fraudster, makes allegations about dead people and the government jumps for joy only because it suits their political angle.”
He also alleged that both Murali Deora and Ahmed Patel, against whom Kapoor had made the purported allegations, were no longer alive to issue denials and that the government wanted, as a result, to “keep the pot boiling”. The senior advocate alleged that the government may be resorting to “pressure tactics and coercion” on Kapoor to issue such statements against the political opposition since he is “eager to get his freedom”.
“They are trying to create a fear psychosis to scare people to do political vendetta, they should know bett-er than that. At least spare the dead,” he said.