Jay moved court as he's innocent, let Rahul file defamation case: Amit Shah

BJP President Amit Shah asserted here on Sunday that his son Jay had done no wrong in his commodities business and so filed a criminal defamation case over a news report against him, while he dared Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to move the court for several allegations made against his family.

At India TV conclave Chunav Manch, Amit Shah said: "Jay has filed a criminal defamation case of Rs 100 crore because he is doing business legally. It doesn't matter what Rahul Gandhi says."

He challenged Gandhi to file criminal defamation case over allegations on him and his family.

"Several allegations were made against him and his family. Did they file a single criminal defamation suit? Let him file," Shah said, alleging that they did not do so because the charges were true.

"Jay has himself gone to court without waiting for demand for inquiry," the BJP chief said.

Shah claimed that Gandhi did not even know the difference between turnover and profit.

"Rahul ji had alleged that Jay had made Rs 80 crore profit, whereas, the fact is it was turnover, and his company faced Rs 1.4 crore loss," he said. Similarly, referring to loans taken by his son, Shah joked that Gandhi did not even know that "there is difference between Line of Credit and loan".

Rejecting the allegation against his son, whose company had reportedly recorded an extraordinary spike in business after the BJP came to power at the Centre, as "without evidence", he said everyone has right to move court.

"My son didn't do any business with government and didn't take any government land and had no connection with contractors," he said.

Asked why Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was asked to address a press conference to defend his son, Shah said: "Piyush Goyal spoke as BJP leader, and not as a minister. We are in public life. Do we not have the right to defend ourselves in public? Do they (Congress) want that we should have remained silent?"

The BJP chief hit out at Gandhi and cautioned him for invoking the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his poll campaign.

Replying to questions, Amit Shah alleged that the Congress insulted Sardar Patel the most.

"Nobody insulted Sardar Patel more than the Nehru-Gandhi Congress. They prevented him from becoming the PM, ministers were not allowed to attend his funeral, Bharat Ratna was not conferred on him until 1991. Even the Sardar Sarovar dam project was put on hold because it had its name. It was really vindictive."

On Rahul Gandhi's recent remark that it was "shameful" that Sardar's statue was being made in China, Amit Shah snapped back: "The world's tallest statue of Sardar Patel will be erected in Gujarat. People of Gujarat will not tolerate Rahul Gandhi for this joke. The voters of Gujarat will give a stinging reply to this joke."

To a question about the plethora of complaints on the Goods and Services Tax, he said it was the "world's largest tax reform" and there were bound "to be teething problems which are being ironed out".

Shah said that the GST Council has already addressed most of the grievances of traders, exporters and consumers.

He said that a high-level committee would be meeting again on October 20 to decide on some more ticklish issues relating to GST, and asserted that the Narendra Modi Government is fully sensitive to the concerns on GST and would not allow people to face problems.

He also rejected as "baseless" Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan's charge that demonetisation was done to benefit US companies in the guise of digitisation.

He also ruled out possibility of any "third alternative" in Gujarat. "After 1990, the voters of Gujarat had been consistently voting in favour of BJP both in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. There are only two main parties - BJP and Congress. There is no third formation in existence."

Shah expressed confidence that the BJP would get "three-fourth majority" in Gujarat this time, and "will form a government under the leadership of Vijay Rupani".

--IANS

desai/vd