Robert Vadra-DLF nexus: Business transactions or favours, asks Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: As the political storm over the Robert Vadra-DLF nexus raged, the reaction of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was largely muted with senior party leaders remaining silent on the issue.
But that changed with senior party leader Arun Jaitley launched a scathing attack on Congress ministers for defending the "indefensible" - referring to the government's support to Mr Vadra, who is the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Jaitley, on Thursday, severely criticized the manner in which senior ministers of the Congress-led UPA government "jumped to the defence of a member of the Congress Party's First Family". "It indicates that the current controversy is being utilized to display loyalty rather than to enforce probity," Mr Jaitley wrote on the BJP website.

His comments came in the wake of a series of reactions from the Congress party in the last few days wherein senior ministers and party leaders alike stoutly denied all allegations against Mr Vadra. The latter has been accused by activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal of being gifted an interest-free loan of 65 crores by realty major DLF as well as discounted apartments in some of the company's fanciest housing projects in Gurgaon in Haryana, just across the border from Delhi. The activists allege that in return for the sweetheart deals, the Congress, which is in power in Haryana, released land reserved for public interest projects to DLF, and that the developer was given express-lane clearances and permissions.

The concerted show of support by Congress leaders vis-a-vis Mr Vadra is believed to have been a result of Mrs Gandhi reportedly telling her partymen that the charges made against her son-in-law are an attempt "to sensationalise" his involvement in real estate. She is also said to have told party leaders to refute all allegations made against Mr Vadra.

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So, the days following the controversy saw senior ministers Salman Khurshid, P Chidambaram and Rajeev Shukla denying any wrongdoing by Mr Vadra. "Transactions between two private individuals cannot be questioned on the basis of some imputed or implied act of corruption," Mr Chidambaram had said, ruling out an inquiry by the government.

Mr Jaitley, though, hinted at a quid pro quo, saying, "There obviously is a lot more than what meets the eye. The possibility of windfall gains emanating from a 'political equity' investment intended to reap 'political dividends' cannot be obviated."

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"Somebody needs to look into these transactions to determine whether they are bonafide business transactions or favours," he said, adding that "It is the responsibility of the State to investigate these cases."

Mr Jaitley's comments are being considered significant as the BJP had opted to attack Vadra but feebly. Sources in the party had claimed that they were worried that Kejriwal's next target could well be a BJP leader and the ex-Anna aide was emerging as a threat to the BJP's anti-corruption campaign against the UPA

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The government has, so far, said maintained that there is no case for a probe into the transactions between DFL and Robert Vadra with the latter having dubbed the allegations against him as "defamatory" and an attempt by the activist-politician to get "cheap publicity." The Congress, too, has made similar accusations, describing the activists as "political upstarts" looking for attention before elections are held in states like Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

DLF has also explained that it gave neither discounted apartments nor unsecured loans to Mr Vadra, and stressed that it has not received any undue favours because of its transactions with Mr Vadra.

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In fact in the write up Mr Jaitley tried to draw a connect between the Bofors scandal of the 80's, the ongoing controversies over the report of the Comptroller and auditor general (CAG) on 2G spectrum and coal block allocations. He said "There is a legitimate apprehension that institutions intended to be a watch-dog on these practices have been seriously compromised.  Citizens Groups are being told that the State will not take any action.  The citizens are mere whistle blowers; they have to bring these cases into public domain.  It is the responsibility of the State to investigate these cases."