To get at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) PM nominee Narendra Modi ahead of the last phase of polling, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh accused the former junior home minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah, of taking bribe to get controversial stockbroker Ketan Parekh out of jail.
In an interview to HT on Thursday, Singh not only targeted the BJP, but also obliquely questioned the UPA’s steps on the Snoopgate scandal.
He said, “The telecom ministry (headed by Kapil Sibal) should have filed an FIR rather than trying to set up a commission. It was a softer option.”
Singh’s comments assume significance as the government had to backtrack from setting up a judicial commission to probe the Snoopgate scandal on Wednesday after its allies, such as the NCP and NC, opposed the move.
But Singh reserved his harshest words for Shah, a close aide of Modi, for allegedly victimising former additional director general of police Kuldip Sharma “only because he informed the CM about the deal between Shah and Parekh.”
“Ketan Parekh committed a fraud in the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank in Ahmedabad. Amit Shah was a director of that bank and a minister. I am levelling a specific charge against him — he took bribe from Ketan Parekh,” Singh told HT, claiming that Shah forced the bank to back out in court.
{{/usCountry}}“Ketan Parekh committed a fraud in the Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank in Ahmedabad. Amit Shah was a director of that bank and a minister. I am levelling a specific charge against him — he took bribe from Ketan Parekh,” Singh told HT, claiming that Shah forced the bank to back out in court.
{{/usCountry}}Singh, in fact, has revived the allegation that Gujarat Congress leaders had levelled against Shah in 2010 on the basis of a letter written by Kuldip Sharma.