Azad seeks PM’s intervention

He also said he will file a PIL in his personal capacity on the DDCA issue and warned that people “will be in trouble”.

A day after his suspension following his relentless campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a defiant Azad maintained that his fight was only against alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and not against any individual.

He asked for “specific reasons” for the disciplinary action against him by the party.

“BJP and RSS always speak about uprooting corruption. We also talk about walking the path of Mahatma Gandhi. Thus, I wish that Narendra Modiji intervenes in this issue, goes deeper in it, and then tells me about what I have done wrong, as I need specific answers,” Azad said here. 

On Wednesday, party chief Amit Shah ordered his suspension for publicly targeting Jaitley with allegations of irregularities in Delhi’s cricket body DDCA. “Tomorrow (Friday) I will go to court and demand a court- monitored inquiry. I will file a PIL in personal capacity and you will be trouble,” Azad told the media without elaborating. Azad alleged that CBI is indirectly helping DDCA by alerting the cricketing body through notices, resulting in “disappearance” of files.

“I request CBI not to issue notices (to DDCA), as files eventually disappear after such notices. If tomorrow I will go to court and demand a court-monitored inquiry in this case, then you will be in trouble,” said the BJP MP from Darbhanga in Bihar. The former cricketer said that he has received the notice of suspension and he is planning to reply to the party by this evening. 

Azad said that he had full “faith” in Prime Minister Modi and would expect him to do “justice.” “I never said anything against the party. I was only speaking against corruption in DDCA,” he said. “I hope the Prime Minister will listen to my plea and do justice. I will also ask margdarshak mandal to come forward and look into the issue,” he told reporters here.

Azad said that, “In that notice, there is nothing specific, as where I was found to be involved in anti-party activities or what exactly I have done wrong. I have been raising the issue of corruption since last nine years, but, I never used party platform for it, as I know that party has to nothing with it.” He claimed that senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has told him that he will help him in drafting his reply to the suspension notice. 

Swamy on Thursday appeared to question the party’s decision to suspend Azad, asking whether cricket fell within the purview of party discipline.

“Kirti issues are 1 –is cricket affair within the purview of party discipline. 2 – due to SC case on BCCI, is party decision amenable in court,” Swamy said on twitter.