Advani bats for cornered Gadkari

Supporting his party's president, the veteran leader said that the BJP chief had come clean by asking for a probe on the charges against him

Advani bats for cornered Gadkari

BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, under fire for alleged wrongdoings in business dealings, on Wednesday got backing from senior party leader LK Advani who congratulated him for “coming clean” in asking for a probe.

Gadkari chats with MP Banwarilal Purohit and BJP MP Ajay Sanchite during the RSS Vijaya Dashmi programme at the Reshambagh grounds in Nagpur. Pic/AFP

In a statement, Advani termed Gadkari’s asking for a probe by the department of company affairs as a “fair and proper response” and also sought to point out that the allegations against the BJP chief were “about standards of business and not misuse of power or corruption”.

In you, we trust: BJP senior leader LK Advani supported Nitin Gadkari and said that allegations against the BJP chief were “about standards of business and not misuse of power or corruption”.

Advani was reacting a day after media reports alleged discrepancies in Gadkari’s business dealings. Advani also hoped the government inquiry, which was announced on Tuesday by Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily, would be “fair and uncoloured by its political hostility” to the BJP.

Advani said the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) “is trying to work a strategy to paint the entire political class with the same brush to minimise and escape its unpardonable sins”.u00a0

He said the BJP “should be different and should not claim immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations”. Advani said the allegation of wrongdoing in land deals against Gadkari “has been proved wrong according to media reports themselves”.

India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal had first levelled allegations against the BJP chief last Wednesday, related to land deals in Maharashtra.

The latest allegations against Gadkari are about improper business dealings as chairman of the Purti group. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said in Nagpur that the corruption allegations against Gadkari were a “matter of the party”.u00a0Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said the BJP should “sort out their own affairs” instead of pointing fingers at the UPA.

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