BJP backs Gadkari, says no misuse of power

New Delhi, October 24: Senior BJP leader L K Advani has backed party chief Nitin Gadkari saying he has come clean by asking for a probe on charges against him and said the party should not claim immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations.


"Nitinji has come clean by asking for an inquiry by the department of company affairs," Advani said in a statement on Wednesday on certain media allegations questioning investments in his family business.

He said the allegations against Gadkari were about "standards of business and not misuse of power or corruption"

"I am of the view that the BJP should be different and should not claim immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations," he said.

Accusing the government of trying to neutralise the unprecedented corruption charges against it by targeting Gadkari, Advani hoped there will be an impartial probe into the matter.

"I hope that the government inquiry will be fair and the government will not use its political hostility to the BJP to colour the inquiry," he said.

Advani lashed out at the UPA for trying to work a strategy to paint the entire political class with the same brush to minimise and escape its unpardonable sins.

He said the allegations against opposition leaders like Gadkari was an off-shoot of this.

Terming Gadkari's response to the government probe into his business investments as fair and proper, Advani said, "This shows the difference in the BJP's attitude."

He said one of the allegations of wrongdoing against Gadkari related to land issue which has been proved wrong according to media reports themselves.

He also congratulated Gadkari for voluntarily asking for a probe into the allegations of dubious funding in his companies.

Meanwhile, the Congress on Wednesday took at dig at LK Advani for backing his party chief in the face of allegations of dubious funding of his companies, saying it reflected BJP's double standards on every issue including corruption.

The party also sought to draw parallel between the controversy surrounding Gadkari and the cash on camera scandal involving former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman.

"BJP has internalised double standards in its approach to each and every issue. When the BJP or its leaders are in the zone of questioning, the argument of political vendetta is conveniently trotted out but when it involves a non-BJP issue of personality, they shoot from the hip without responsibility and restraint," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Insisting that there are questions on the BJP chief's role, he said "you cannot come out of the shadow of these questions by levelling allegations on others. There is only one way that the government probes the matter and you come out clean".

He was responding to the remarks of Advani lauding Gadkari's offer to face an inquiry into the allegations and saying it is a fair and proper response.

Advani said the allegations against Gadkari involving his company Purti Power and Sugar were about "standards of business and not misuse of power or corruption".

"I hope that the government inquiry will be fair and the government will not use its political hostility to the BJP to colour the inquiry," he said.