The Congress on Friday dismissed as "completely baseless and untrue" the allegation that the UPA-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil had shielded her brother who was accused of involvement in a two-year-old murder case.
The party charged its political rivals with "creating" the allegations following their failure to come up with a suitable candidate who can match up to Patil's stature in the upcoming presidential polls.
"The Congress strongly condemns the scandalous allegations and demands that the decorum of the presidential election be maintained…The presidential candidate has absolutely no connection with the allegations," spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said while reacting to allegations that Patil's brother had a hand in the killing of Rajni Patil's husband in Jalgaon in Maharashtra.
Rajni, a professor in a Jalgoan college, leveled this charge at a press conference on Friday at the residence of Akali Dal leader SS Dhindsa who was out of Delhi. Demanding a CBI probe in the matter, she also released copies of a memorandum she had sent to President APJ Abdul Kalam and on his part, Dhindsa distanced himself from the controversy saying that the press conference was held without his permission. He said that Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh had sought permission from him to hold a meeting of BJP leaders and he had allowed it.