New Delhi, January 9 (PTI): Congress on Sunday reacted sharply to BJP allegations against Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Bofors and 2G Spectrum issues, saying the opposition party is trying to divert attention from “RSS’ complicity in terrorism” by levelling such accusations. “These are things being done deliberately to digress and divert attention from documented investigation reports showing full complicity of RSS in terrorism,” party Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said reacting to the allegations of BJP.
The opposition party at its National Executive meet in Guwahati today decided to go the whole hog after the first family of Congress, alleging that Ottavio Quattrocchi’s involvement in the pay-offs lead “directly to the doorstep of Sonia Gandhi.” Party Spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman also sought a clarification from the Gandhi family on its relations with Quattrocchi and his dealings. Besides, she said the assertions of former Telecom Minister A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee that they had obtained due clearances” for cost escalations, leads to the “doorsteps of the PMO.”
“He (PM) also has to come out clean on those clearances... clearances by Joint Secretaries would not have been sufficient,” she said. Dubbing BJP’s allegations a “travesty of truth”, Mr. Singhvi said, “BJP speaks up about Bofors and forgets the 2004 Delhi High Court judgement, which passed strictures against NDA and said that Rajiv Gandhi should not even be accused.” While maintaining that “for 23 years not an iota has been found about Congress or Rajiv Gandhi in the case,” the Congress spokesperson made it clear that the party has “nothing to say or do with regard to action taken according to law in respect of other indivduals like Win Chadda, Hinduja and Quattrocchi.” On BJP pointing fingers at PMO, the Congress spokesperson said, “The BJP is a minority on this planet to dream that even remotely the Prime Minister’s Office is in any way connected with the 2G.” He said that the allegations by the opposition party only show it is yet to reconcile to its successive defeats.
The opposition party at its National Executive meet in Guwahati today decided to go the whole hog after the first family of Congress, alleging that Ottavio Quattrocchi’s involvement in the pay-offs lead “directly to the doorstep of Sonia Gandhi.” Party Spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman also sought a clarification from the Gandhi family on its relations with Quattrocchi and his dealings. Besides, she said the assertions of former Telecom Minister A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee that they had obtained due clearances” for cost escalations, leads to the “doorsteps of the PMO.”
“He (PM) also has to come out clean on those clearances... clearances by Joint Secretaries would not have been sufficient,” she said. Dubbing BJP’s allegations a “travesty of truth”, Mr. Singhvi said, “BJP speaks up about Bofors and forgets the 2004 Delhi High Court judgement, which passed strictures against NDA and said that Rajiv Gandhi should not even be accused.” While maintaining that “for 23 years not an iota has been found about Congress or Rajiv Gandhi in the case,” the Congress spokesperson made it clear that the party has “nothing to say or do with regard to action taken according to law in respect of other indivduals like Win Chadda, Hinduja and Quattrocchi.” On BJP pointing fingers at PMO, the Congress spokesperson said, “The BJP is a minority on this planet to dream that even remotely the Prime Minister’s Office is in any way connected with the 2G.” He said that the allegations by the opposition party only show it is yet to reconcile to its successive defeats.
