File photo of Robert Vadra (Agence France-Presse photo)
Chandigarh:
The BJP government in Haryana says it's about to deliver on one of the main promises of its election campaign - a thorough investigation into the land deals that allegedly delivered windfall gains for Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
"We have come across documents, there are several proofs of wrong-doings during the 10-year Congress rule. We are soon going to hand over the entire matter to a commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court,' said Ram Bilas Sharma, a senior minister in the Haryana government.
Sources say that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is consulting with central party leaders about the scope and terms of the inquiry into Mr Vadra's real estate deals in Haryana, where the Congress was removed from power in October after two back-to-back terms.
Those 10 years, the BJP has alleged before and after winning the election, allowed Mr Vadra to circumvent rules, a point also made by senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka, who was transferred from his post days after he red-flagged a land transaction by Mr Vadra in Gurgaon near Delhi.
In March, the national auditor spoke of "undue favours" by the Congress government in Haryana to a company owned by Mr Vadra. The auditor's report said as a result, "huge profits" were accrued while the government did not benefit.
As rebuttal for allegations that Mr Vadra leveraged his family's influence for unfair gain, the Congress refers often to the Supreme Court's decision in 2013 to reject a request for a CBI investigation into Mr Vadra's business dealings in Haryana.
While campaigning for the BJP in Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged that Mr Vadra's illicit dealings were conducted with the knowledge of Mrs Gandhi and her son, Rahul, who is No 2 in the Congress party. However, like other top BJP leaders, he pledged the "law would take its own course" and said his government will eschew "vendetta politics."