Sonia dares kejriwal to prove charges against Robert Vadra

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday backed to the son-in-law Robert Vadra, in the wake of an allegation by Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that he was hugely favoured by realty major DLF.

According to reports, Sonia asked party members to strongly rebut the charges.

As the allegation created a political storm, AICC spokespersons as also several Union Ministers went ballistic against the “so-called civil society activists” dubbing the charges as “baseless and utterly irresponsible”.

“Those very forces that were responsible for attempts to malign Congress leadership in 1970s and 80s have now resurfaced in a new Avtar,” party spokesman Manish Tewari said.

He said the press conference of Kejriwal is “not even a poliltical conspiracy. It is worst kind of a political chicanery.”

Asked whether  a defamation case is being filed against Kejriwal, Tewari said private remedy is available to a private individual. “We are not going to second guess or comment,” he added. Law Minister Salman Khurshid launched a sharp counter-attack on Kejriwal and Bhushan, dubbing the allegations against Vadra as reflecting the “bankrupt ideas of a stillborn party”.

To say that he got land at cheap rates because one is related to a particular person is “absurd”, the minister said. Whatever documents they are showing are already available in public domain, he added. Another Union Minister Rajiv Shukla said there is no evidence to suggest any favour was given to DLF and there is no quid pro quo involved.

Another party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said it was not mere coincidence that the “baseless charges” have been made by Kejriwal when Congress has “exposed” BJP chief Nitin Gadkari.

Earlier at a press conference here, Kejriwal and Bhushan had alleged that Vadra had bought property worth crores of rupees between 2007 and 2010 with an “unsecured interest free loan” of Rs 65 crore given by DLF.