Fighting against corruption, not Jaitley, says Kirti Azad

Suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad on Sunday said that his fight was not against finance minister Arun Jaitley personally but against the corruption that had taken place in the Delhi District Cricket Association when he was at its helm.

“A total of 200 letters and 500 emails were sent to the DDCA boss on corruption in the association but no action was taken. I am only trying to expose corruption and demanding action. I have never said that the BJP’s finance minister is corrupt. He is my leader,” said Mr Azad at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Ernakulam Press Club. The BJP leader said the work on the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium in Delhi was done at a cost of Rs 58 crores but bills and vouchers for only Rs 25 crore were made available. “There was no proof of cost escalation and it was approved by the executive committee without the bills,” he said.

He also wondered how the Test match became profitable, while Twenty20 made losses as per their calculation. “Embezzlement is happening in crores while fines are being paid in thousands only,” he said and called Hockey India as a den of corruption too. Mr Azad cast doubts over the investigation being conducted by the CBI into the DDCA issue and stated that while it continued to serve notices to the DDCA, it had seized documents from the Delhi government.

Saying that the UPA and the NDA were united in corruption when it came to cricket, he added that he was still looking forward to the PM taking action. “He was busy with Pathankot attack and I hope he will look into the issues soon,” said Mr Azad. He thanked cricketer Chetan Chauhan for filing a demotion suit against him. “Now I will get an opportunity to expose the people behind corruption,” he said.

He also said that he would abide by whatever action is taken by the BJP parliamentary board on his standing in the party. “I have done nothing against the party,” he said.