Saturday, Aug 17, 2002
Saturday, Aug 17, 2002 |
| Front Page | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Front Page
By Our Special Correspondent
Madhu Sharma: My husband is being framed
Rejecting the charges — there is "not an iota of evidence'' — Arun Jaitley, party spokesman, said that Mr. Mahajan himself later confirmed that he would file a defamation case in a couple of days after studying the audio cassette of Ms. Sharma's "wild charges''. Mr. Mahajan categorically stated that he had never met Mr. Sharma, IG of Prisons, Haryana, and that he could certainly not answer the question why Ms. Sharma had named him as being involved in the case rather than any other politician. He was confident that such malicious charges without any basis whatsoever would not and should not affect his standing as a political leader. The BJP gathered all its forces to defend one of its most important leaders as the Congress asked for Mr. Mahajan's resignation — the argument was that as Minister for Communications he could tamper with the evidence of telephone calls made, and Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI(M) demanded a "thorough and impartial inquiry''. The Congress spokesperson, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, said another addition had been made to the list of "tainted BJP Ministers", but this time with a charge of murder against a Cabinet Minister and that all limits of civil society had been crossed. But the main Opposition did not demand the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, who Ms. Sharma had alleged had been influencing the investigations to protect Mr. Mahajan. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, himself rang up Mr. Mahajan on Thursday night and asked him not to worry. Mr. Advani strongly defended him saying that the "malicious campaign (against Mr. Mahajan) has been launched by vested interests who were wanting to derail the investigation which was proceeding in the right direction''. Describing the allegations as "totally baseless'', Mr. Advani condemned the campaign launched against his "valued colleague''. Mr. Jaitely described Ms. Sharma's allegation as a "diversionary tactic''. The BJP could only appeal to all not to give any credence to such "self-serving allegations'' coming from the wife of the man who was on the run from the law. Ms. Sharma had not produced even an "iota of evidence" against Mr. Mahajan, and the allegations were calculated to "create the shadow of a cloud'' over a senior politician. The party had advised Mr. Mahajan to file a criminal defamation suit against Ms. Sharma, he added and the question of his resignation did not arise. 
Pramod Mahajan: Not a shred of evidence against me
Mr. Mahajan met correspondents at his residence this evening. He said that Mr. Sharma had been an officer on special duty at the Prime Minister's Office during the Gujral Government and was shifted out as vigilance officer of Air-India to Mumbai before Mr. Vajpayee became Prime Minister. "I have never met him, Shivani had never asked me to help Sharma get transferred, in fact Shivani had never asked me for any personal favour,'' Mr. Mahajan said. Naturally upset over the charges levelled against him by Ms. Sharma, Mr. Mahajan rubbished the idea that some influential leaders in the BJP could be after him because of political rivalry. "I want the investigations done at the earliest, it is in my interest,'' he added. And there was not a shred of evidence against him (`Ek nakhun ke barabar ka evidence nahin hai'). In response to questions, Mr. Mahajan said Shivani might have telephoned him, and he might have called her back, as he had in the case of other journalists telephoning him for professional information almost everyday. Was someone making him a scapegoat? "Main koi bali ka bakra nahin hoon, sadharan bakra nahin hoon (I am not a sacrificial goat, not an ordinary goat),'' he said. And, of course, such an allegation had affected him personally, but he did not think that such a baseless accusation by the wife of an accused would finish his political career. Surely, in the present circumstances when her husband was the main accused, Ms. Sharma's credibility could not be so high, he added.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
