Sitaram Kesri putting his cap at the Samadhi of Nehru at Shantivan to pay his homage on the death anniversary of the late Prime Minister in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI, May 27: In his affidavit to the Delhi High Court in connection with the Rs 3.75 crore foreign donations case, Congress president Sitaram Kesri has alleged that ``the petition has been filed on the eve of the organisational elections of the party with an oblique motive to damage his image.''

Though Kesri's affidavit was silent about the sources of the foreign contribution, according to a Home Ministry's affidavit, three drafts for the Congress Party came from three companies, Dominion, Decor and Diera, and were credited to the Congress Party's account on December 29, 1993.

Kesri's affidavit before the division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Mahinder Narain and Justice S K Mahajan who was monitoring the case states: ``There is no breach of any law and I never accepted any foreign contribution from Germany''.

Criticising his rivals in the party, Kesri said, ``During my political life nobody ever questioned my integrity. The whole scheme to abuse the process of this court through various proceedings appears to have been designed after I became president of the party on September 23.''

Terming it a ``politically motivated petition'', he states, ``Soon after taking oath of office, a complaint was filed on September 26 last year with the CBI at the behest of political rivals with a view to damage my reputation and so it is not a public interest litigation but a political interest litigation.''

He denied any interrogation by the deputy director of the Income Tax Department in connection with the case.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.