Tuesday, Feb 18, 2003
Tuesday, Feb 18, 2003 |
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New Delhi
By Our Staff Reporter
Demanding a public apology from the Gujarat Home Minister, the Gandhi Nagar MLA debunked it as a slander campaign typical of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. "It indicated their sick mind-set and nervousness in view of the imminent Congress victory in the Himachal Pradesh elections'', he said at a press conference along with the Delhi Health Minister, A.K. Walia, the Power Minister, Ajay Maken, and the Leader of the House in MCD, Ram Babu Sharma. "It is sad and unfortunate that the BJP has stooped to such a level and made baseless allegations. They have gone down to `gutter politics' at the instance of the BJP leadership and inspired by the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, the communal mascot of the party,'' he added. Stating that he had never met the two Punjab Ministers with whom his name had been linked, Mr. Lovely said he was in Gujarat from December 2 to 4 and staying with his party colleagues, Bhisham Sharma, MLA, and Prem Chaudhary, Councillor. He stayed in the Taj Hotel for two days and shifted to Landmark Hotel on December 4 to stay along with all the Delhi party colleagues who had camped in the hotel along with the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit. "I returned to Delhi on December 5 and after that I have never visited Gujarat. If the Gujarat Government or the Home Minister is able to prove that I had any link with the scandal or the Punjab Ministers, I would resign from politics,'' he said. Stating that his lawyers were also filing a "criminal suit'' against Mr. Shah, the Congress MLA said this typical BJP mudslinging campaign was a fall-out of the aggressive campaign unleashed by the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, against the BJP and its leaders in Himachal Pradesh. This is precisely the reason why the Punjab Ministers had been involved by the Gujarat Government. Ironically, Mr. Lovely said Mr. Shah has been on record stating that he was an MLA from Punjab. ``I will also be writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, to constitute an all-party House Committee to pursue the matter and bring out the truth. To get a person involved in a sex scandal is not something routine. It affects the socio-political and family life of the individual and shatters his public standing. If this is going to be the level of politics, then no clean or good person would join politics in future,'' he added. Mr. Ram Babu Sharma said this indicated the increasing trend of petty politics being practiced by the BJP which was desperate to retain power at any cost. Since the CBI was under the Central Government, it could go ahead and institute an inquiry into the whole affair and bring out the facts before the people. Dr. Walia regretted that values had degraded to such an extent that political opponents do not think twice before making charges. "These are baseless allegations and no right-thinking person will enter politics if this trend continues. The BJP has exposed its true face by indulging in such slander but this will not help their cause,'' he said.
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