)
A day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a scathing attack on the Congress leadership, former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday demanded an "unqualified apology" from Swaraj for levelling false allegations against late Rajiv Gandhi.
In a point-by-point rebuttal, Chidambaram claimed Swaraj was peddling lies. Refuting the allegations made by Swaraj concerning late Rajiv Gandhi and Ottavio Quattrocchi in connection with the Bofors scandal, Chidambaram cited the February 4, 2004 judgment, where a high court had conclusively stated there was "no evidence" against the public servants. On Rajiv Gandhi allowing then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy, to flee, Chidambaram said even Jaitley was well-versed how weak the conditions for Anderson's extradition were.
Rejecting Jaitley's allegations that the United Progressive Alliance was not serious in acting against former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi, Chidambaram said, "Extradition was not preferred over deportation as it could drag on for a decade in court litigation. It is a legal trap. We demanded that an Indian citizen who had no passport and whose visa had been cancelled should be deported and sent back on the next flight."
As for allegations like issuing a "light blue corner notice", he said it was the decision of the Enforcement Directorate then.
Even the decision of initiating the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 or FEMA proceedings and not Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was done by the established procedure in such cases. "Now, after several years of Lalit Modi's absconding, the ED has gathered more information presumably and acted under PMLA."
Demanding that the government should reveal the letters that were exchanged between him and then the chancellor of the exchequer of the UK, Chidamdaram said, "How does (revealing letters) that compromise the inquiry (against Lalit Modi)?"
"The prime minister is avoiding vital questions. If he prefers to cheer from the sidelines and not enter the arena, what can I say? He tweets congratulating Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. But he failed to say why the two did not answer our questions. Maybe the PM will himself answer these questions one day," said Chidambaram.
Rejecting the Jaitley's charge that even the corporate India was complaining that the Congress was against economic progress and the goods and services tax (GST), Chidambaram said, "Instead of getting sidetracked by the pyrotechnics of online signature campaign; there is growing support among corporate leaders for the fundamental objections we have raised in the land Bill. The corporate India had complained in private for six years that the BJP was obstructionist on the GST."
