New Delhi: India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal, who has alleged that Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra was given an unsecured, interest-free loan of Rs 65 crore by DLF, is likely to come up with fresh evidence on Tuesday.
After his allegations against Vadra created a storm, Kejriwal had said that he had more evidence of the businessman’s dubious deals with realty major DLF. Kejriwal has accused Vadra, the husband of Sonia’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi, of many such deals because of his closeness to the Congress high command.
The fresh evidence is expected to come out a day after the political spat over the assets of Vadra continued with the party saying that Kejriwal had no documents to prove his charges. The BJP, meanwhile, alleged that the ruling party was shying away from a probe into the matter.
“The Congress is shying away from investigation. Today, we have ministers telling there should not be any inquiry against Robert Vadra,” said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar also targeted Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka, who is married to Vadra, suggesting a probe in her family property in Shimla.
“Priyanka Vadra’s family also has a property in Shimla. I don’t have the full information about it but it is worth crores of rupees,” said Shanta Kumar in his letter dated October 7 to Kejriwal.
Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan have alleged Vadra bought properties much above his capital base with help from realty major DLF, a charge denied by the corporate.
The Congress and the government have defended Vadra.
“Unless there is a specific allegation of quid pro quo or corruption, I am afraid private transactions cannot and ought not to be allowed to be questioned on the basis of imputations and insinuations,” said Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said there were no documents to prove the charges against Vadra and alleged Kejriwal was seeking “cheap publicity”.
“Has he gone to any agency, registered any FIR? An inquiry will only happen when papers will be given. You cannot prove anyone guilty by flashing papers in the media. The reality is that they don’t have any documents to prove their allegation,” Alvi said.
The IAC had alleged on October 5 that Vadra had bought properties worth over Rs 300 crore between 2007 and 2010 with an interest-free unsecured loan of Rs 65 crore from realty major DLF.
They claimed the properties were given at undervalued rates in exchange of favours allegedly received from Congress state governments in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
DLF had on Saturday denied it had advanced any unsecured loan to Vadra, or sold its assets to him at throwaway prices, or that there was a quid pro quo in the transactions.