Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not direct CBI to raid Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s principal secretary, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday, asserting that they would have no qualms about accepting it if it was otherwise.
“We are ‘dabang’ (bold) leaders. Modiji is also just like me. Had we done this, we would have definitely said so. I myself spoke to Modiji. He told me, for the last one year, I have not issued any direction to CBI in any case. I have only told CBI to do its own legal work,” Mr Gadkari told a TV channel.
He also rejected Mr Kejriwal’s charge that the CBI had gone to the chief minister’s office in search of the DDCA inquiry file, saying it is a “childish charge”.
“The CBI raided 14 places. It is ridiculous for Mr Kejriwal to say that the CBI had gone there in search of DDCA file. There is no DDCA case with CBI and it has nothing to do with DDCA. Like Rahul Gandhi, Mr Kejriwal also makes childish allegations. It seems ours has become a democracy of children,” he said.
Mr Gadkari also lashed out at the Congress, saying it is “subverting” democracy by stalling Parliament and resorting to “drama” to gain public sympathy and win elections so that Rahul Gandhi’s ambition of becoming a Prime Minister can be fulfilled.
The Union minister also rejected charges against the government that the CBI was acting against Himachal chief minister Virbhadra Singh, P. Chidambaram’s son and in the National Herald case at its behest out of vindictiveness, saying the agency was probing charges against BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan too.
“I know Shivrajji (MP chief minister) is innocent, but did we not order the CBI inquiry into Vyapam scam Has not Supreme Court expressed satisfaction over the progress of the CBI probe So how can you say that we are vindictive
“Actually Congress wants to garner people’s sympathy by raising such issues, so that it can win elections and Rahul Gandhi can become PM, but these are ‘mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ (a pipedream). This is not going to happen,” he said.
