BJP trashes allegations against Gadkari, says IAC has scored 'self goal'

New Delhi: The BJP Wednesday trashed the allegations of corruption against party president Nitin Gadkari and termed the IAC's accusations as an "attempt to make a mountain of what is not even a molehill".

Gadkari, who termed the allegations against him by the India Against Corruption (IAC) as "a conspiracy by the Congress", said his conscience was clean and he was ready for a probe.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj said the IAC had tried to dig for proof against Gadkari but found nothing. "They dug a lot for proof but found nothing, since there is nothing... And since they had announced they would reveal a lot of corruption against Gadkari they were forced to hold the press conference... It was like crying wolf when there was actually nothing," Sushma Swaraj said, hitting out against the IAC.

Targeting IAC leader Arvind Kejriwal, Sushma Swaraj said that since he failed to find anything against Gadkari "he combined all the parties together and painted them as corrupt".

In a dig at Kejriwal, who has entered the political arena, she said the activist had turned the press conference into an "election rally". "Except for asking for a vote for himself, he turned the press conference into an election rally," she said.
She also said that the BJP and the leadership is solidly behind Gadkari.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the party "dismisses" the allegations and hit out against the IAC's attempts to "bring a moral equivalence between the Congress and BJP".

Using strong language, Jaitley said the IAC had tried to make a "mountain of what was not even a mole hill", and that it had harmed the cause of civil society by "over statement".

"Their attempt is to show that they are hit men, and they can attack anyone... But the hit men have scored a self goal and damaged their own credibility".

Gadkari, speaking earlier, had said: "The allegations of land grab against me are baseless."

"It is a design to tarnish my image... it is very sad," said Gadkari, adding that it was a "Congress conspiracy".

The BJP denied the IAC's charges of land grab against Gadkari and said the land in question mentioned by the IAC was acquired by the government to build a dam in 1986.

Referring to another plot of land mentioned by IAC, the party said the land was wasteland and given to Gadkari on an 11-year-lease. "Gadkari's trust grows sugarcane saplings on them and supplies them very cheap to farmers in Vidarbha," said Jaitley.

The party also denied that Gadkari benefitted in any way from an irrigation project.