‘His name still holds weight…’: Ahmed Patel's daughter amid Congress veteran's charges in Teesta Setalvad case

Mumtaz Patel, in a tweet, questioned the ruling BJP government on why the charges over the 2002 Gujarat riots involving Congress veteran Ahmed Patel were not brought up till 2020 when he was still alive.

Amid a row over late Congress leader Ahmed Patel's alleged link to the Teesta Setalvad case, his daughter on Saturday said the veteran's name 'still holds weight' even after death and accused those doing so of using him for 'political conspiracies'. Mumtaz Patel demanded to know why her father had not been questioned over these claims by the authorities.

Late Congress leader Ahmed Patel's daughter Mumtaz Patel(Twitter)

She also asked why the opposition of today, including the Congress, had chosen not to make Teesta Setalvad a Rajya Sabha member during the UPA governemnt that was led by her father's former party.

"I guess his name - Ahmed Patel - still holds weight to be used for political conspiracies (and) to malign the opposition. Why during UPA year(s) Teesta Setalvad was not rewarded and made Rajya sabha member, and why the centre uptil 2020 did not prosecute my father for hatching such a big conspiracy," she tweeted.

A special investigation team (SIT) of the Gujarat Police has been probing journalist Teesta Setalvad's role, as well as that of others, in a case of alleged criminal conspiracy and forgery, and has also claimed that she received money from Ahmed Patel.

The SIT, in its affidavit, claimed Setalvad was part of a larger conspiracy to destabilise the Gujarat government by falsely implicating people in the 2002 riots.

Earlier today, the Congress refuted these charges, calling them 'mischievous' and lamenting that 'the prime minister's political vendetta' did not even spare those who had died.

"This is part of (the) prime minister's systematic strategy to absolve himself of any responsibility for the communal carnage unleashed when he was chief minister in Gujarat in 2002. It was his unwillingness and incapacity to control this carnage that had led the-then prime minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to remind the chief minister of his rajdharma."

Not to be outdone, the BJP has also stepped up its attacks.

Party leader Sambit Patra demanded answers from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and accused her of involvement too. "Ahmed Patel is just a name, the driving force was his boss Sonia Gandhi. Through her chief political advisor Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi attempted to malign Gujarat's image. Through him, she attempted to insult Narendra Modi and she was the architect of this entire conspiracy," the BJP spokesperson said.

Teesta Setalvad, with former Gujarat director-general of police RB Sreekumar, were this month sent to judicial custody for 14 days on the order of the Supreme Court, which observed they 'wanted to keep the pot boiling for ulterior design'.

They were arrested last month - a day after the top court upheld a clean chit by the SIT to Narendra Modi.