Gadkari: No links with Radia
BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Saturday denied having any business relations with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia. He also dismissed allegation that senior leader and BJP Parliamentary Party chairman L.K. Advani had favoured Ms Radia during the NDA rule.
He instead claimed that the Congress was behind these allegations as it wants to divert attention from the 2G spectrum scam. He demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take moral responsibility for failing to prevent the 2G spectrum and other scams and resign. Strongly denying charges that he had any business relationship with Ms Radia, Mr Gadkari said: “This is a cent per cent lie. I have not even seen Niira Radia face-to-face. She has never called me, neither have I called her. And there is no issue of meeting her or helping her.”
Countering charges of having favoured Ms Radia in a helicopter deal in Maharashtra, he said the Congress was behind these allegations as it wanted to divert attention from itself.
“The image of the Congress is getting tarnished day by day. So they have abandoned their wisdom and patience. And due to this they are sinking. So they are abusing others to besmirch their name. This is unfortunate for democracy,” he said. He said all charges made against Mr Advani, party general secretary Ananth Kumar and him are “baseless” and challenged that if Rao Dheeraj Singh (a former associate of Radia) had the courage, he should bring out all the facts. The BJP also asked the Congress to furnish proof of the alleged Swiss bank account held by Mr Ananth Kumar in Zurich. Asked if the BJP felt the PMO had given permission to the Commonwealth Games projects and the 2G spectrum allocation, the BJP chief answered in the affirmative. Mr Gadkari alleged that on the Commonwealth Games, permission for every project was given by the group of ministers, expenditure finance committee, Cabinet sub-committee, the Cabinet and PMO and just one person (Suresh Kalmadi) cannot be held responsible.
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