Don't threaten with defamation suits, Digvijay to Bhushan

Congress leader Digvijay Singh today asked Lokpal bill committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan not to "threaten" him with defamation suits and instead come clean on the issues of the controversial CD and the allotment of plots to him in Noida.

"I haven't received the defamation notice given by Shanti Bhushan.... He should not threaten with defamation (suits).... I have taken a number of notices in the past and would like to reply in the court," Digvijay told reporters here.

The Congress general secretary said that whatever he said against Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant was based on media reports and a notice of stamp duty evasion issued by Uttar Pradesh government.

"If he wanted to serve a defamation notice then it should have been done against the officer, who issued the notice or Mayawati government. Neither did I give the notice nor do I have any information about it," he said.

Singh said that if a 7,500 square-metre land with a bungalow in posh Civil Lines area in Allahabad costs only Rs one lakh, it creates suspicion.

"As far as I understand this fact creates suspicion," he said.

Taking a dig at the Bhushans' claim that the controversial CD which has the purported conversation between Shanti Bhushan and political leaders Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh was doctored, Singh said that a new trend has started where the accused get their own cases investigated and give a clean chit.

"They got the CD examined by themselves and said that it was wrong. If this is the logic then A Raja should have been given investigation of 2G," he said.

He alleged that in Noida, "when Mayawati government was taking Rs 5,000 per square feet of land, they cannot see the corruption.

"Shanti Bhushan and his son took 10,000 square metre plots there, then they had no objection, that too when there was no information about draw of lots," he alleged.

"I expect from a learned person like Shanti Bhushan to clarify on this issue," he added.

On being asked whether Shanti Bhushan should resign from the joint committee, Singh said that he leaves that to his conscience.

"He is a sensitive person with emphasis on credibility," he said.

Asked about sharing dais with expelled SP leader Amar Singh in Farukkhabad, the Congress leader said that it was a non-political programme and "political inference should not be drawn".