BJP leaders rally behind Nitin Gadkari, say fight will be political

Rallying behind party President Nitin Gadkari, senior BJP leaders today rejected charges of any wrongdoing by him in acquiring land in Maharashtra and said the allegations would be fought politically and not legally.

Soon after Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Gadkari had acquired large tracts of farm land in Maharashtra through improper means, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley came out in strong defence of the party chief, saying the charges were "false and baselss".

Addressing a joint press conference, the two leaders took a dig at activist-turned-politician Kejriwal, saying he was rubbishing all parties to "hog the limelight".

"Lot of hype was created about the press conference as if some big bomb is being exploded... He (Kejriwal) tried his best to dig out some scam but could not find anything," said Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"We are happy that our national president is not involved in any scam. The party is fully with him," she said.

Dubbing Kejriwal's press conference as "just like an election rally", Swaraj said, "We will fight politically. We won't go for defamation suit."

Jaitley said since Kejriwal was forming a political party, he has the ambition of hogging the "limelight".

"A mountain of what was not even a mole-hill sought to be created... The hitman (Kejriwal) has scored a self-goal."

Rubbishing the allegations against the BJP chief, Swaraj said the land which has been given to Gadkari was a wasteland and he used it to grow sugarcane saplings which was then provided to farmers at a subsidised rate.

"It was wasteland, not farmland as alleged... It is wrongly alleged that it was farm land. Gadkari has provided subsidised sugarcane saplings to farmers of Maharashtra," she said.

The land was acquired in 1983-84 and the dam was built in 1997 and the farmers were paid total compensation during the process, she said.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Coalgate probe: No accused or suspect let off, says CBI chief Ranjit Sinha

UPA only worried about 'nephews and uncles': Narendra Modi

UPA govt has no moral right to be in power, says Amit Shah

Sajjan Kumar acquittal: Sikh protesters march towards PM's residence