IAC shakes off B-team tag with attack on BJP
18 Oct 2012 7:17 AM IST
Less than a week after targeting the Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, the India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday turned the heat on the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP], accusing its president Nitin Gadkari of receiving personal favours from the Maharashtra government by getting around 100 acres of agriculture land in the state after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party [NCP] government bent rules.
Kejriwal blamed Gadkari of receiving favour from the former state irrigation minister Ajit Pawar, who has since resigned from the state cabinet.
Kejriwal, at his much-hyped press conference at the Constitution Club here, tried to underline that all the political parties, whether the ruling one or in the opposition, were hand-in-glove in looting public resources, as they enjoyed 'a cosy relationship' with each other. Launching a sharp attack on Gadkari, who is waiting for renewal of his term as the BJP president, the IAC leader said, 'Gadkari is not a politician but a businessman.' He alleged that Vadra looted farmers' land in Haryana, while Gadkari did the same in Maharashtra.
On the other hand, Gadkari came out firing all cylinders in his defence as he addressed media persons soon after Kejriwal's briefings. He dismissed Kejriwal's charges as baseless and termed it as conspiracy to malign the BJP, as the Congress was 'losing its image' due to various corruption issues. Terming Kejriwal's 'expose' to be a ploy by the Congress to malign him, Gadkari said, 'The land in question was given on lease to a charitable trust; I got no personal favours.'
Soon after Gadkari had addressed media, the BJP tops leaders – Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar – also addressed the media. Predictably, they repeated the defence offered by Gadkari and rejected all charges made by Kejriwal. On the specific allegation of a piece of land given to Gadkari, they argued that the land in question was still being used for a public purpose of benefitting sugarcane farmers of the area. 'The land was acquired 22 years ago. The compensation has been given, so where is the illegality,' Jaitely said. 'They have made a mountain of what was not even a mole hill,' he added.
IAC CHARGES
Kejriwal blamed Gadkari of receiving favour from the former state irrigation minister Ajit Pawar, who has since resigned from the state cabinet.
Kejriwal, at his much-hyped press conference at the Constitution Club here, tried to underline that all the political parties, whether the ruling one or in the opposition, were hand-in-glove in looting public resources, as they enjoyed 'a cosy relationship' with each other. Launching a sharp attack on Gadkari, who is waiting for renewal of his term as the BJP president, the IAC leader said, 'Gadkari is not a politician but a businessman.' He alleged that Vadra looted farmers' land in Haryana, while Gadkari did the same in Maharashtra.
On the other hand, Gadkari came out firing all cylinders in his defence as he addressed media persons soon after Kejriwal's briefings. He dismissed Kejriwal's charges as baseless and termed it as conspiracy to malign the BJP, as the Congress was 'losing its image' due to various corruption issues. Terming Kejriwal's 'expose' to be a ploy by the Congress to malign him, Gadkari said, 'The land in question was given on lease to a charitable trust; I got no personal favours.'
Soon after Gadkari had addressed media, the BJP tops leaders – Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar – also addressed the media. Predictably, they repeated the defence offered by Gadkari and rejected all charges made by Kejriwal. On the specific allegation of a piece of land given to Gadkari, they argued that the land in question was still being used for a public purpose of benefitting sugarcane farmers of the area. 'The land was acquired 22 years ago. The compensation has been given, so where is the illegality,' Jaitely said. 'They have made a mountain of what was not even a mole hill,' he added.
IAC CHARGES
- Gadkari given 100 acres of land by Ajit Pawar, which was acquired from farmers for construction of dam
- Water from dam has been permitted to be used by Gadkari's firms and other industries
- Ajit Pawar diverted water meant for irrigation to power industry belonging to politicians or their relatives
- Gadkari downplayed irrigation scam, as he has 5 power-producing and three sugar industries in Maharashtra
- In some areas, Gadkari's firms cause huge pollution
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