Ridiculing Congress' claim of probity, BJP on Wednesday attacked the ruling party for fielding a number of "tainted" leaders in the Lok Sabha elections, the latest being former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley mentioned the names of former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is contesting from Chandigarh, Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, its ally and fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad besides Chavan to target Congress.
Former Punjab chief minister and Congress candidate against him in Amritsar, Amarinder Singh, is also a charge- sheeted politician, he said. While Bansal had resigned after his name figured in Railway Board recruitment scam, the Maharashtra governor denied CBI permission to prosecute Chavan in Adarsh scam.
"He is tainted in the Adarsh scam.... The governor refused sanction to prosecute Ashok Chavan. This was a politically motivated decision to save the declining fortunes of Congress in Maharashtra," he said.
Congress has fielded Chavan from Nanded. Rubbishing the CBI's clean chit to Bansal even as it indicted his relative, Jaitley said if the probe agency had applied "even a fraction" of the standards they used against BJP leaders of Gujarat and Rajasthan, the case against Bansal was an "open and shut" one.
Virbhadra Singh is also under CBI investigation, he said, in a case where there appears to be "conclusive" evidence against him. Singh has been quizzed and his statement recorded by CBI for allegedly receiving kickbacks from a private steep company.
Bansal, Chavan, and Virbhadra Singh have denied the allegations against them.
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