Upset with reports that his son was ticked off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over an alleged misconduct, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asserted that he would quit politics even if “prima facie” it was proved that any of his family members had been involved in any misconduct. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and BJP president Amit Shah later issued clarifications saying there was no truth in such reports and that they were “completely baseless”.
The Home Minister’s reaction came a day after his son was denied ticket from Noida for the Assembly bypolls.Singh was reportedly unhappy over rumours being spread by “a ministerial colleague” and “party rival” about his son Pankaj Singh being pulled up by the Prime Minister over some alleged misconduct. “In the last 15-20 days, there have been continuous rumours about me and my family. I thought rumours have no basis and these will end in some days.
“But these rumours are gaining momentum day-by-day. I want to assure the nation that the day any allegation, prima facie or even small, is proven against me or my family, I will quit politics and public life and sit at home,” he said in an unscheduled interaction with journalists outside his office in North Block.
The Home Minister said he had told Modi and Shah about it and both of them expressed surprise and rubbished the rumours as completely baseless.In a strong statement of condemnation, the party president described the reports against Rajnath and his son as “completely baseless” and praised both of them for their contribution to the party.
He said this was an attempt to damage the image of the party and divert Modi-Government’s “agenda for development” . “These tactics will not succeed” , Shah said.Shah recalled as how Rajnath steered party during elections and worked with Modi to help party to score the historic election victory. “ Sri Rajnath Singh Ka rajnaitik jeevan shaleenta, somyata aur suchita ka prateek hain,” said Shah and dismissed reports which he said were inspired by “ill intention”.
The PMO also issued a statement, rubbishing the reports and describing them as “plain lies, motivated and malicious attempt” to tarnish the image of the Government.“This has reference to reports appearing in a section of the media over the past several weeks, mentioning the Prime Minister, and referring to the conduct of some Union Ministers, and alleged misconduct of the Home Minister’s son,” said statement.
“The reports are plain lies, motivated and constitute a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the image of the Government,” it said.“Those indulging in such rumour-mongering are damaging theinterest of the nation. These reports are strongly denied,” the PMO said.
Asked who could be floating the rumours, Singh said that was something for the investigative journalists to find out.On the possibility of a political rival spreading these rumours, the Home Minister parried a direct reply, saying, “I have nothing to say on this.” Taking potshots at the government , the Congress and asked it to spell out as to what the allegations were about.
“The strange thing is that as opposition party, Congress has not levelled any allegations against his (Rajnath’s) son. “So the country and the Congress party want to know, Rajnath Singh ji, Prime Minister you should first of all say what are the allegations against his son, that you are denying,” Congress spokesman Ajay Maken said while referring to the denials issued by the PMO as well as Rajnath Singh.
CPI leader D Raja said, “Without any fire, there cannot be any smoke.It shows there are lot of things...There is internal strife...The politics is changing.” Interestingly , JD-U leader Sharad Yadav came to Rajnath Singh’s support, saying the allegations were “baseless” as he (Rajnath) is a “spotless” person.