As BJP MP Kirti Azad on Sunday held a Press conference to produce evidence in the alleged corruption in Delhi’s cricket body, DDCA, top India players, including Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, came out strongly in support of Finance Minister and former DDCA president Arun Jaitley.
Flanked by former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi and former cricketer Surinder Khanna at the media interaction, the third time MP from Darbhanga played footage of a DDCA AGM of 2011-12 CD which purportedly showed Azad questioning Jaitley, who was in the chair.
The footage also purportedly showed Jaitley defending the DDCA office-bearers who were being questioned by Azad on alleged financial bunglings. Asked repeatedly as to why he was not taking the name of Jaitley and what were his allegations against him, Azad said there was no personal or political fight. “It is a matter of principles and we have been fighting this battle for the last nine years,” he said.
“I would like the Enforcement Directorate and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to investigate. POCA (Prevention of Corruption Act) can also be invoked in DDCA affairs.
Reacting to the charges, Gambhir, Sehwag, Virat Kohli and pacer Ishant Sharma lauded Jaitley for his efforts to improve cricketing infrastructure in the Capital and support to players during his tenure. “A lot of good things have happened in DDCA when Jaitley was its president. An international kind of stadium was built, if you see what sort of stadium Kotla was and what it is now, all these things happened only when Jaitley was president,” Gambhir told reporters.
“All these people who are criticising him now left right and centre, they too were part of the cricket improvement committee, they were given top most posts and they were able to do nothing for Delhi. Now when he is not there as president, every kind of allegation is levelled against him. They should not have taken such positions in DDCA if that was the case,” Gambhir added.
Sehwag, on his part, lauded Jaitley for being there for the players. “In my time with DDCA if I ever came to know of any ‘surprising’ selection of a player, all I needed to do was to inform @arunjaitley,” Sehwag tweeted.
“And @arunjaitley Ji would immediately ensure correction and justice for the deserving players at #DDCA...Was a nightmare to speak to some others at DDCA but @arunjaitley ji was always available for players in case of any difficulty at any time,” he added.
Another Delhi player, pacer Ishant Sharma also backed Jaitley. “Arun Jaitley ji has always been helpful, fair and kind in all my interactions with him #DDCA,” he tweeted.
Earlier asked about Jaitley’s interview to a daily in which he had suggested that Azad had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi during UPA’s tenure to “fix” Jaitley, Azad said his late father was a Congressman and they had family relations. “MPs of various parties meet each other and nothing can be read into this,” Azad said.
Azad said he has not levelled allegations against anybody and that it is up to the CBI how it proceeds with the enquiry.
Asked whether it was a personal fued with Jaitley, Azad said he does not have any personal fight with anybody despite people making remarks against him. “What personal fight can I have with anybodyIJ People say a lot of things to me. Sometimes somebody says Trojan horse. I have never replied. For the last nine years, I have only said there is corruption in DDCA. Our Prime Minister is our hero, in the country and outside. We admire him so much that he is fighting against corruption. We are not fighting against any person. I am there in the fight against corruption with him. If the party takes action against me, it will not be proper,” he said.
Asked specifically about the kind of allegations which he wanted to level against Jaitley, he said that he was not levelling any allegations but only saying that the corruption, which has been going on in the DDCA for the last so many years, must end. Asked how much was Jaitley responsible for the corruptionin DDCA, Azad said,” You are trying to make me fight with someone which I will not. I have been fighting this (battle against corruption) for the last nine years.
The new party (AAP) which has come is now making it a political issue. This was my issue. You are trying to make it a fight between two individuals. Something which is a principled stand, you are making it personal and political. We should look at the crux of the problem rather than create a wedge between people or make it look political.”
The video that was shown at the press conference claimed around 14 companies to whom payments had been made when Jaitley was at the helm of DDCA were non-existent. When those who conducted the ‘sting’ operation visited the addresses of the companies mentioned in the records they could not locate them.
“The business governance norm is to float tenders. But these fraud companies are given work worth crores of rupees but the nature of work is not mentioned. Corruption has happened and the SFIO said there were financial irregularities. DDCA is lIC (legal institute of corruption). DDCA accounts are forged. These are fraud companies which didn’t exist but were given contracts worth crores,” Azad said.
“We need to find the trail of the money, where the money has gone,” the BJP MP said.