NEW DELHI: The Congress pointed fingers at union ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj hours after the BJP charged the grand old party had given ticket to a lawyer of PNB fraud accused Mehul Choksi in Karnataka.
Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill denied the party had put on hold the candidature of HS Chandramouli, who has been fielded from Madikeri assembly seat, and said it was not a crime if he had appeared for Choksi long time back.
“We have not put the ticket on hold. By that same yardstick BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje should also resign,” Shergill said.
He charged Jaitley was a lawyer for Union Carbide in the infamous Bhopal gas tragedy case, while Sushma’s husband and daughter had represented former IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi, for whom Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje organised travel permission in London.
Further, the Congress said that Chandramouli too had clarified over the controversy.
On Sunday, the Congress had announced the list of 218 candidates while putting six seats on hold as they needed some more discussion. AICC sources had dubbed it as a balanced list saying it accommodated 15 Muslims, three Christians and two Jains while fielding 15 women nominees as well.
On Tuesday, the party had to play down protests over ticket distribution in several districts of Karnataka saying dissenters will be pacified.
“It is rather unfortunate that all aspirants cannot be given tickets for the limited number of seats. We will engage with aspirants, pacify them and would make them part of future government in the state,” said Shergill.
He said such rumblings within the party showed it had better prospects of winning the May 12 polls.
According to an internal AICC assessment, the party had an advantage over the rival BJP which was still struggling with pulls and pressures of ticket distribution.