Political allegations and counter allegations are flying thick and fast in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after the CBI charge-sheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.
Political allegations and counter allegations are flying thick and fast in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after the CBI charge-sheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with the BJP going all out to corner ex-chief minister Kamal Nath over his alleged role in the riots.
After BJP state chief V.D. Sharma said on Sunday that Nath’s hands “were stained with anti-Sikh riots blood” and soon charges will be framed against him, the latter retorted on Monday saying that Sharma was making the allegations to hide his own “number two activities” (misdeeds).
Nath also said that the BJP-appointed Nanavati commission had found him innocent.
Addressing a press conference at Anuppur, Kamal Nath, who is also the MP Congress chief, said that the BJP was left with nothing to say against him.
“No one has been able to raise a finger against me in my 45-year stint in politics. The riots happened in 1984. There was no FIR registered against me in 1985, 1986 or 1989. Then the BJP appointed an inquiry commission. Some people approached it out of politics. But the commission said I was innocent. No one raised their fingers then, no FIR was registered for so many years. V.D. Sharma is saying all this to hide his own misdeeds,” Nath said.
Sharma made an angry comeback on this statement, challenging both Nath and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh to show even an iota of proof against him. The BJP state chief reminded that challan had been put up against Singh in a defamation case that he (Sharma) had filed and that he would not sit quiet until Singh went to jail for it. He said that he was the son of a poor farmer whereas Kamal Nath had become a millionaire by looting the common people of Chhindwara (Nath’s home town and former constituency). Sharma added that the accusations of anti-Sikh riots were not his, but the investigation agencies were saying so.
Earlier on Sunday, state minister Vishvas Sarang also held a press conference on the issue, demanding that the Congress sack Nath from the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress president. He said Nath carries a huge stain (of the riots) on him and asked if he will win the MP elections with that stain? “He should come out in public and tell whether he was involved in the riots? Congress has always done politics of division in the country,” Sarang said.
He further said that the Congress leadership should answer whether Nath was eligible for the post of state chief of the party when he has been accused of involving in the 1984 Sikh massacre? “My demand to the Congress leadership is that Kamal Nath, who is accused of the Sikh genocide, should be removed from the post of State Congress president; otherwise it will be clear that the Congress wants to contest elections under the leadership of the murderer of Sikhs. Why is the Congress party silent in this matter today?” the minister said.
Meanwhile, media advisor to Kamal Nath, Piyush Babele said in a tweet that BJP ex-MLA Harendrajit Singh Babbu had made allegations that his life was under threat from V.D. Sharma. “Instead of giving him (Babbu) justice, BJP silenced him. Sharma, who points fingers at others, should first introspect about himself. The list of charges against him is long.”
This was in reference to a statement made to a section of media by Babbu recently alleging bias by Sharma and a threat to his life. However, later, after meeting chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Sharma, Babbu had retracted the statement.