Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Saturday came out in the open in support of Arvind Kejriwal on charges that the latter levelled against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, and said “why is the Congress fearing a judicial probe into the matter if they are sure that the charges are false”.
“Many Congress leaders say that these allegations are only because of electoral compulsions, and are baseless. We say that if the allegations are untrue, then why don’t they order a judicial probe into it? And now if it is false, file a defamation case against Arvind. Truth will be out,” Anna said, speaking to reporters at Ralegan Siddhi, near Pune in Maharashtra.
Referring to his past experience with the UPA Government, Anna said when they raised allegations “against 15 corrupt ministers earlier, the government had observed that there was no case in them”. “Now, two of the ministers are out. The coal scam is out. Whole country has seen it,” he said. Anna also said that the leaders of the Congress party were “liars”. Kejriwal, meanwhile, stuck to his allegations against Robert Vadra, saying “he had just put certain facts in public domain which need to be answered”. The India Against Corruption (IAC) activist, now a political leader,said: “...We have put certain facts in the public domain ... why doesn’t he (Vadra) answer them?”
He added in the same breath that “he was ready to face defamation charges if his allegation leveled against Vadra was proved wrong”.
Upping the ante on the issue, the BJP on Saturday demanded a “fair probe” into the allegations against Robert Vadra. “It is the expectation of people of the country that the matter is investigated.It should be probed that what benefits Congress’s state governments in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi gave to Vadra,” said BJP’s Ravishankar Prasad.