"UPA has perfected the art of manipulating CBI"

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley during a press conference in New Delhi. File photo

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley has said the Congress-led UPA, during its decade in power, has “mastered the art of manipulating the Central Bureau of Investigation.”

He said the truth about the “political misuse” of the agency “slipped out” after CBI Director Ranjit Sinha’s comments in the Ishrat Jahan case.

Mr. Sinha was quoted in an English daily as saying the UPA government would have been happier had Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s aide Amit Shah been charge-sheeted in the alleged fake encounter case.

Mr. Jaitley said that notwithstanding the CBI Director’s statement and clarification, there was “voluminous evidence available with regard to the pliability of the CBI…”

Writing in his blog, he said the UPA retained power with the outside support of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. “In both cases, it was the cooperation of the CBI that was instrumental in manipulating the support of these two parties. Their top leaders were charged with possession of disproportionate assets.”

Mr. Jaitley said: “During Emergency, almost two lakh First Information Reports were concocted against political activists.”