After questioning the economic slowdown under the NDA government, former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said his party has lost the high moral ground by defending the reported unprecedented growth of a company owned by Jay Shah, son of BJP national president Amit Shah. Mr. Sinha also took on Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal, saying, “He acted like a chartered accountant of Jay Shah.”
“Looking at all the developments taking place in the corruption charges and the way we’ve responded — the party and the government — it appears the high moral ground has been lost,” Mr. Sinha told journalists in Patna at an event to mark the birth anniversary of socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan. He further said he did not want to comment on the merit of the case as it was under investigation.
The senior BJP leader, whose son Jayant Sinha is Minister of State for Civil Aviation, also criticised the central government for allowing Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to take on the case of Jay Shah.
“Even Additional Solicitor General representing a private individual in court is something that never happened before…the special circumstances in which the Additional Solicitor General was allowed to defend the concerned person also raises some issues and that was also, to my mind, avoidable,” Mr. Sinha said, adding “The government should order an inquiry because too many government departments are involved.”
Freedom of press
On the defamation case filed against the news website that had reported on Mr. Jay Shah’s firm, Mr. Sinha said, “Media is a very important integral part of democracy and that is why it is regarded as the fourth pillar... to try and suppress the voice of media either directly or through any other means including for instance this defamation case of ₹100 crore was also avoidable.”
Bihar BJP chief Nitya Nand Rai has blamed the Congress for the “unfounded, fake and fabricated allegations made by the news website The Wire. ”
“Whatever is being written in the story is far from the facts…it was designed to malign the image of BJP president Amit Shah and his family…The issueless Congress party is behind the website’s fake and fabricated report,” said Mr. Rai.
