Cong Asks Jaswant To Explain Property Deals

Such a clarification by the top BJP leader was necessary in view of the BJP's claim that it was a party with a difference and of political purity' Gagdil told media persons at yesterday's routine AICC briefing. Gadgil, however, declined to mention the name of Jaswant Singh but made it abundantly clear whom he really meant.

When insisted by mediapersons to name the BJP leader, Gadgil said the Delhi daily had given all the datails, including the name of the leader. In its front page story, it had said how Jaswant Singh had himself taken interest in the huge landed property of his wife which she possed in the form of power of attorney in the name of a domestic servant.

It had given details of how the property, originally belonging to the Jodhpur maharaja, was passed on to its present owner. Asked by newsmen at the routine BJP briefing yesterday, Jaswant Singh first took the position that it was the official BJP forum and personal matters should not be raised there.

When mediapersons insisted that it was in the interests of the BJP to clarify the position, Jaswant Singh, who regularly briefs the Press, said: It is easy to reply to facts. But it is very difficult to answer to insinuations. I refuse to answer to such comments.

Gadgil's onslaught on Jaswant Singh began with a reference to BJP's 1996 election manifesto which had promised to make public the entire income and wealth of its elected representatives within 90 days. The time limit was over, and not a single BJP MP had made public his or her income and wealth to this day.

This showed how hypocritical is BJP's claim that it is a party with a difference and its claims of political purity, Gadgil said. Gadgil also talked of a note he had received about the concerned BJP leader's property transactions. I give him an opportunity to make his explanations before further commenting on it (the note), Gadgil said.

A mediaperson asked Gadgil about the allegations of grant of gas and petrolium agencies to Narasimha Rao's relatives. Gadgil said he had replied to the question earlier and stuck to it.

The ten-page note, which Gadgil gave to mediapersons, is a compilation of the BJP leader's alleged activities. It mentions several names of persons and firms, both in India and abroad, with which the leader is alleged to have dealings.

Annexures to the note gives 21 foreign addresses with telephone numbers and many Indian names. According to the note, when Murli Manohar Joshi was the BJP president, he had got some of these alleged activities investigated. But Joshi still keeps it, it claimed. But Joshi was not available for comments.

Meanwhile, Congress parliamentary party spokesman Suresh Kalmadi told mediapersons that PV Narasimha Rao would soon write to Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma about the suspension of former communications minister Sukh Ram.

The party would discuss further action against Sukh Ram. He said general body of the CPP would meet today. [562]