Congress attacks BJP on Robert Vadra remark

New Delhi: A day after the BJP asked the Congress to explain links of Robert Vadra with an arms leader, the Congress hit back on Wednesday. Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making 100 tours within India and abroad on private chartered planes as Gujarat chief minister and asked who paid for them. He said, “We are raising a question on who spent this '16.5 crore. We want to know why a private party spends for a person in a constitutional position. What is the motive?”

The BJP on Tuesday fielded defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who demanded answers from the Congress over alleged “links” that Mr Vadra had with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

A news report had claimed Bhandari booked tickets for Mr Vadra’s overseas visit in 2012. Responding to this, Dr Singhvi said, “These trips are clearly trips by a constitutional functionary, position holder. They are provided for by private persons. And we do not have any account. We must have accountability first. We are talking of constitutional propriety as somebody was trying to teach us lessons on constitutional propriety on Tuesday. It is worse than the pot calling the kettle black.”

The Congress also accused the BJP of a “witch-hunt” against Mr Vadra. Dr. Singhvi termed as “baseless” the charges levelled against Mr Vadra by Ms Sitharaman based on the media report, which Mr Vadra’s lawyer has already denied. The party also claimed that in the last 41 months, the Central government and the governments of Haryana and Rajasthan have been indulging in a witch-hunt against Mr Vadra. Dr Singhvi said, “ For the last 41 months, they have kept the pot boiling, but have not found any proof.”

Dr Singhvi also said that the government is busy in “Beta Bachao Andolan” in an obvious reference to a report by a news portal about the turnover of a company of Jay Shah.