Not leaving it to the Congress managers alone, Sonia Gandhi herself came out in quick defence of her son-in-law Robert Vadra after he was accused of corruption in real estate deals.
In a statement issued just hours after Kejriwal-Bhushan flung the allegations that her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband was given interest-free loan by DLF Ltd in a quid pro quo, Sonia asserted that Robert “is a businessman and there has not been any misuse by him”.
Her own statement came despite instructions to the Congress leaders that the allegations of corruption made against her son-in-law have to be refuted by the party immediately. Sure enough a battery of ministers tried to call Kejriwal’s bluff in a high-voltage defence.
Virtually, the who’s who of the Congress party issued statements or appeared on TV channels to launch a counter-offensive calling the allegations “wild and unsubstantiated’’.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, “It is wrong to link Robert Vadra to politics” and the “Congress will give a befitting reply to Kejriwal and team” for making such allegations. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan called the allegations “low-level, below-belt” and made “against a person who’s not even in public life”.