Have proof of corruption against kin of Vajpayee and Advani, says Digvijaya Singh

NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Sunday claimed that there was evidence of corruption against kin of former prime minster AB Vajpayee and LK Advani.

In an interview to a private TV channel, Singh, however, maintained that his party would never use it to embarrass the two leaders. Singh has been mouthing this "morally untenable line" after political parties were forced to take up the allegation that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra used his connections in Congress-ruled states to convert a 50-lakh business kitty into a 300-crore real estate empire.

Digvijaya Singh had described it as a breach of a political code practiced in current day politics - not to attack one another's kin. To him, questioning Vadra's business transactions went against this unstated code.

Singh, who insisted that he had proof about wrongdoings of kin of BJP's senior leaders, rejected as "hollow" the allegations of "nexus" between Vadra and real estate major DLF. Defending Gandhi, the Congress leader said she was not Vadra's "chartered accountant" to question his rising assets. But Singh maintained the "evidence" against relatives of BJP leaders could embarrass them. When it was suggested to Singh whether he was engaged in 'shoot and scoot' politics, Singh said he had no plans to take up the issue. "Why should I be a complainant," Singh shot back, arguing that there is Parliament and a number of authorities to look into these matters, when asked why was he not disclosing the evidence he has against kin of Vajpayee and Advani.

Dismissing allegations against Vadra, Singh said there was no illegality in speedy clearance of mutation of land or permission to change of land use. "I am a politician. What my relations do is not my business," he said.

When questioned about land deals between DLF and Vadra, Singh said it was something for DLF to answer. He said Vadra belonged to an "eminent family" and was not a person who had no assets before he married Priyanka Gandhi. "If any one had bought land in Haryana 10 years back, it would have gone up 100 times by now," he said, when asked about Vadra's fortune growing exponentially after his marriage into the Gandhi family.

Singh sought to dismiss suggestions that Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka was transferred abruptly because he started probing the land deals of Vadra. "Did Vadra complain against Khemka." On Vadra's controversial remark "Mango Man in Banana Republic", Singh said he enjoyed the humour in the "mango man" comment. But he admitted the description of the country as a banana republic was inappropriate.