The BJP backed Raje a day after party president Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the issue with him before leaving for Punjab to participate in the celebrations to mark 350 years of Anandpur Sahib, along with Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday. Even as Raje, who was also scheduled to attend the function at Anandpur Sahib, gave it a miss, the Rajasthan BJP at a Press conference in Jaipur rubbished charges against Raje’s son and party MP Dushyant Singh as “propaganda” ahead of Bihar polls.Claiming that transactions between Dushyant’s firm and former IPl commissioner lalit Modi were “legal”, BJP State president Ashok Parnami said that there were absolutely no irregularities in the transactions which were legal and assessed by the Income-Tax Department.State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore, a Raje loyalist, too claimed that the transactions were in compliance with the Companies Act, 1956 and were between two private companies.
Showing documents, Parnami said that as many as 965 shares of Dushyant’s company were transferred and a total transaction of `9,28,33,000 took place between the two companies in 2008 and 2009. Dushyant’s company also took a loan of `3.80 crore from Modi’s company and interest was also paid.
“The company filed Income-Tax returns from 2008 and no return filing is pending. Dushyant’s company manages three high-value properties in Dholpur, Delhi and lucknow, so there is no question about the company’s assets and their values,” he said. “No fact has been concealed from the assessment authority by the company. This is the Congress Party’s propaganda ahead of the Assembly elections in Bihar,” he said.
Ahead of the Press conference in Jaipur, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi spoke in Delhi on the controversy surrounding lalit Modi and his alleged links with the two BJP leaders, saying while the party’s top leaders Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have made their position clear on the issue of Swaraj, the validity of the documents produced against Raje is not yet verified.Unlike in the case of Swaraj where the party responded almost immediately, the BJP reacted to the allegations against Raje after days of studied silence
“The question is imaginary. There is no technical and legal basis on which you can say there is any point of impropriety,” he said when asked whether there will be action against Swaraj and Raje. He said helping lalit Modi’s wife did not involve “any impropriety” as she was not an accused.He rejected demands for an enquiry, internal or otherwise, against Raje.Answering queries on their resignations, Trivedi said:”There is no reason behind it.” He said there was “absenceof substantial evidence to establish quid-pro-quo.”
He also rejected any corruption or impropriety by the two leaders for their alleged links with lalit Modi and termed as “laughable” questions raised by the Congress.“We have already made it clear that there is no corruption. There is no technical or legal definition of corruption.” On investments made in Raje’s son Dushyant’s company by lalit Modi, he said there was nothing new in it as “it is in the I-T returns. Everything is in public domain.” The spokesman added those details have also been given in Dushyant’s affidavit before the lok Sabha polls.Asked about the belated support for Raje, Trivedi said the questions raised by the media were “imaginary.”
To another question on whether the “disclosures” made by lalit Modi were an embarrassment to the Government, he said, the Government has acted in 15 of the 16 cases against Modi and show-cause notices have also been issued.The BJP spokesman said: “Unable to take the BJP on politically, Opposition parties are making a mountain out of a molehill.”On raids and cases against NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Trivedi said it was a logical follow-up of the investigation during the UPA dispensation. He rejected the Congress’ charges of “political vendetta” by the BJP Government.
