'Probe Digvijay's claim against BJP leaders' kin'

In an interview to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme, former chief justice of India J S Verma on Sunday sought a probe into Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh’s claim that he had evidence of graft against kin of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders A B Vajpayee and L K Advani, terming it “very disturbing” and that it indicated a “conspiracy of silence” at the top.

Verma said he felt “completely disgusted” with the lack of morality of politicians in the country. Political parties were failing in their duty if they do not bring in the public domain lapses of one another, added the former judge.

About his opinion on Digvijay Singh’s statement that he had information about certain instances which were equivalent to corruption on the part of family members of BJP leaders, but would not reveal these, Verma said, “Whether true or false, it has serious ramifications for our democratic polity. If true, it reveals a conspiracy at the top against combating corruption about which people are talking all the time and it shows that political morality is at its lowest ebb.” Verma added that law enforcement agencies should take note and try to get the information from Singh which he claims to have.