Did you do a due diligence, asks BJP

NEW DELHI: The War of words between UPA and NDA over the presidential polls escalated here on Thursday with the latter rejecting Congress’ demand seeking the Election Commission’s intervention on Mr L K Advani’s `conscience vote’ appeal, citing three precedents to back its contention.

These included, besides former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s appeals for Zakir Hussain in 1967, and V V Giri two years later. The Left was not far behind, using a similar ploy to lure electoral college members to root for its candidate Lakshmi Sehgal in 2002.

The BJP, the principal component of the NDA, simultaneously trained its guns on Mr Manmohan Singh for hurling the `mudslinging’ charge at the NDA, and came out with a set of six posers for the prime minister — all of them pertaining to the UPA’s presidential nominee. ``The prime minister’s comment that the allegations against Ms Patil and her family-members are mere mudslinging is not only ironical, but also comical,’’ BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Thursday afternoon. Describing the charges as `stark, disturbing and unfortunate,’ he argued that they had not been unearthed by the BJP, but were out `in the public domain.’

To buttress his argument, the BJP spokesman came out with a list of six posers for the prime minister, asking him to come clean on each of them. ``Is it not a fact that the RBI, in its inspection report for the year 2003, had severely condemned the entire working of Pratibha Mahila Sahkari Bank, of which Ms Patil was the founder chairperson? The report found that the bank deposits of small investors had been squandered away in granting irregular loans to various family-members in utter disregard of banking norms. The RBI subsequently recommended the bank’s closure,’’ Mr Prasad said, adding, ``The PM has been a RBI governor. Should a legitimate question emanating from such a report be dismissed as mudslinging?’’

Again, based upon the RBI’s report, the finance ministry cancelled the bank’s licence. ``This certainly couldn’t be construed as mudslinging,’’ the BJP spokesman remarked. ``In the other family-controlled entity, the Muktabai Co-operative Sugar Factory, large funds were diverted from the Pratibha Mahila Co-operative Bank. This was found to be grossly irregular by the administrative officer in his show-cause notice to the bank after liquidation,’’ he said, adding: ``The sugar factory shut shop much before coming into steam, and the bank played with the hard-earned money of small depositors.’’
``The employees of the bank had complained they had to forego a day’s salary for contributing to the Kargil fund. The amount so collected was never deposited with the fund. If such a complaint is made from the employees of a bank, owned and controlled by UPA nominee and her family members, how can the nation have an assurance about her conduct as the supreme commander of armed forces ?’’

``Is it not a fact that after the bank’s liquidation, the chief administrator appointed by the Maharashtra government had sent a show-cause notice to the bank’s manager in which, among other things, it was alleged that posts earmarked for SCs, STs and OBCs were filled up by Ms Patil’s family-members?’’ the BJP spokesman asked.

He also wondered whether the government had done a due-diligence into Ms Patil’s antecedents. ``Your belated and comical defence only shows that you all were aware about these allegations, yet chose to remain mum as the UPA wanted not only a pliant, but a vulnerable President,’’ the BJP spokesman said.