BJP Leaders Come Out In Gadkari's Defence, Congress Demands Answers

India Against Corruption (IAC) member Arvind Kejriwal had first levelled allegations against the BJP chief last Wednesday, related to land deals in Maharashtra. The latest allegations against Gadkari are about improper business dealings as chairman of the Purti group.

Media reports Tuesday said an infrastructure company IRB gave a Gadkari-owned company a loan of 165 crore, two years after the IRB was awarded road contracts by Gadkari when he was the Maharashtra PWD minister.

The reports also said the addresses of some of the companies that had invested in Gadkari's company appeared to be dubious.

The BJP had said any competent authority could probe the charges, and the Congress seized on the statement.

"It is good that, for the first time, the opposition is saying that government probe agencies are competent enough to probe into the matter," said Dikshit.

However, Dikshit said no probe against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, who has been accused of corruption in land deals in Haryana involving realty major DLF, was needed as nothing has been established against him.

"There was nothing illegal in the allotment of land to DLF by the Haryana government nor did it cause any public loss," said Dikshit, claiming: "It is a frivolous allegation made by a few persons without any substantive facts."