Arresting Raja not enough, find out his godfather: Gadkari

BJP President Nitin Gadkari today said the arrest of former Telecom minister A Raja was not enough and asked the government to find out who his "godfather" is in the 2G Spectrum scam.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the arrest of former Telecom minister A Raja was not enough and asked the government to find out who his "godfather" is in the 2G Spectrum scam.

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"Arrest of Raja is not enough. Who is the godfather Raja behind him. Let his name be known...the name of his bosses should be found out. There should be an inquiry (into it)," he said.

Raking up the issue of Indian black money stashed abroad, Gadkari appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to ask the UPA government to make public the list of those having illegal bank accounts abroad.

"Why are you worried? If you have nothing to hide, then why not make the names of those who have parked their money in banks abroad public," he said at a function of BJP's Economic Cell.

He also questioned the reluctance of the government in putting the list in public domain. "In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to bring back money in 100 days. The government has completed 610 days in power...why is there a reluctance," he quipped.

He said while Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee cites rules in expressing government's inability to bring back money, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wants the black money stashed abroad to be brought back.

"There are contradictions in their stands...Rahul Gandhi should not tell the media that money should be brought back, he should tell his party and the Prime Minister," he said.

In an apparent attack on Sonia Gandhi, the BJP leader wondered where the money withdrawn by controversial businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi from a London bank was transferred to.

"The government had sent a law officer to help Quattrocchi defreeze his bank account in London. The question is where the money withdrawn was later transferred...Quattrocchi's driver had told CBI that he and his wife had free access to (late Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi's residence," he said.

He said the issue of black money was linked to the future of Indians who do not have good infrastructure and a comfortable livelihood.

"The money can help improve lifestyle of lakhs of Indians," he said.