The BJP on Wednesday strongly denied Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling them “baseless, false and malafide”.
Mr. Modi’s persona, it said, was as “pure as the Ganga and exemplary in honest conduct”.
At a rally in Mehsana in Gujarat earlier in the day, Mr. Gandhi said Mr. Modi took bribes from the Birla and Sahara corporate groups when he was Gujarat Chief Minister.
‘We will not go to court’
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the allegations reflected Mr. Gandhi’s frustration.
“If Mr. Gandhi thinks that ... he would be able to divert attention from the ongoing probe into AgustaWestland helicopter deal where the names of his family members are cropping up, let me tell him: that will not happen.”
The BJP was not going to court against the charges raised. “We believe in the people of India,” he said, indicating that electoral support for Mr. Modi would be cited to puncture the allegations.
Clean chit
What the allegations indicated was Mr. Gandhi's frustration at having led his party to disastrous defeats in State after State, said Mr. Prasad at a press conference at the BJP headquarters, called at the conclusion of Mr. Gandhi’s speech in Gujarat.
“Our Prime Minister is as pure as the Ganga,” he said. Even the Supreme Court, he said, had observed that there was no basis for the allegations.
He was referring to the court rejecting a plea for a probe by a special investigation team into allegations that two companies paid Mr. Modi Rs. 65 crore ahead of the Lok Sabha elections held in 2014.
“There is no expectation from Rahul Gandhi who has demonstrated himself as the biggest partner of corruption during the 10-year rule of the UPA government ... Why did he not utter a single word when crores of rupees was being looted during the rule of the Congress,” Mr. Prasad asked.
“Who is Rahul Gandhi?... Someone who is out on bail in the Rs. 5,000-crore National Herald case for fraud,” he said.
