THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy on Saturday refuted allegations of him targeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “I have always been straightforward. If I want to attack someone, I will do it with courage. I don’t target my colleagues which only Communists will do,” Swamy said.
Swamy had on Friday tweeted, “BJP should direct our Ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie, they look like waiters.” Though he did not name anyone, many perceived it to be in reference to Jaitley. Asked about it, Swamy clarified, “In fact, Jaitley looks perfect in Western dress.”
Moving on, the BJP leader sprang a surprise with a ‘revelation’ on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Citing an RTI reply, he alleged that Kejriwal had got admission in IIT Kharagpur not via the competitive exam but through unfair means. He said Kejriwal’s rank and marksheet were “not available” and claimed the AAP leader joined IIT Kharagpur using his father’s links with the Jindal factory where he served as an employee.
Swamy said that vacancies at IIT Kharagpur were filled illegally by its managing board between 1952 and 2005. Kejriwal joined IIT Kharagpur in 1980 where he was awarded a B.Tech (Hons) degree.
Swamy also trained his guns on former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram. “Chidambaram will go to jail. He will have a family reunion at Tihar,” he said and also reiterated that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was “ruining” the Indian economy. “He is not an economist. He is a BTech from IIT and MTech from the MIT. He has nothing to do with economics,” he said.
Swamy did not spare Congress leader Rahul Gandhi either. He said he knew Rahul’s destination when the later took a political sabbatical last year. In the same breath, the BJP leader said he would seek judicial intervention in the land grab case involving corporate giants like Tatas.