Congress dismisses Jethmalani's allegation against Patel

NEW DELHI: Congress today dismissed the allegation by Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh's counsel Ram Jethmalani that senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was the source of the money in the 2008 cash-for-vote scam.

"We have nothing to do with it. We were secure. We had no such insecurity. It will have to be looked into as to who had the insecurity. We decided to take the challenge of vote of confidence. We were not going to start cash for vote in the midst of the process after all," party spokesperson Renuka Chaudhary told reporters at the AICC briefing.

She was replying to questions on Amar Singh's counsel Jethmalani today making a U-turn before a Delhi Court and claiming that Congress leader Ahmed Patel was the source of the money allegedly given to three BJP MPs as bribe ahead of the trust vote by UPA government in 2008.

Asked whether she feels that Amar Singh was responsible for the scam, Chaudhary snapped, "I am not the judge."

Asked who, if not the UPA government, benefited from the cash for vote episode, Chaudhary quipped, "I do not know who benefited. The country hopefully benefited."

She also ridiculed Jethmalani's submission in the court, recalling that he had put the blame for the scam on BJP a few days back.

"Wait for three more days. Something else will come out," Chaudhary said.