March 2012: An SPG commando rushes to lift Robert Vadra who trips at the Madhavrao Scindia golf tournament DLF Golf and County Club in Gurgaon. - PTI Photo
An allegation by civil society activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan
that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra had been hugely
favoured by realty major DLF today triggered a political storm with the Congress
dubbing it as "baseless and utterly irresponsible" while BJP demanded
a probe.
At a
press
conference here, Kejriwal and Bhushan alleged that Vadra had bought property
worth crores of rupees between 2007 and 2010 with an "unsecured interest
free loan" of Rs 65 crore from given by DLF.
They claimed that Vadra had secured the loan from DLF to companies floated by
him and his mother with a seed capital of just Rs 50 lakh.
43-year-old Vadra, married to Priyanka Gandhi, was not in the capital and
sources close to him said there was no reaction for the moment.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said that these are "baseless,
misconceived and utterly irresponsible" allegations.
"Coming ahead of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, it shows that the
so-called civil society groups are morphing themselves as a political party but
it is nothing more than a B-Team of the BJP," he told reporters.
A DLF spokesperson said the business relationship with Vadra is "completely
transparent" and was conducted to "highest standards of ethics".
Kejriwal and Bhusan claimed an analysis of the balance sheets and audit reports
of the five companies run by Vadra showed that they had no income from any
legitimate business activity except the interest derived from the DLF's loans.
Demanding an independent probe into the whole issue, Kejriwal and Bhushan
alleged that Vadra used the loan provided by DLF to buy 31 properties, including
five flats from DLF itself with a market value of Rs 35 crore for a meagre Rs
five crore.
They claimed that the market value of these properties was worth around Rs 500
crore.
The two activists, who have recently floated a political party, said the
transactions of Vadra raised several questions, including why DLF gave such
large unsecured loans and why should the company should sell its properties to
him at throwaway prices on the basis of funds obtained from the real estate
major.
They alleged that there could be quid pro quo between DLF and Vadra for favours
to the company through Congress governments in Delhi , Haryana and Rajasthan.
On its part, BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad accused the Congress
governments in the National Capital Region of giving away huge chunk of land to
DLF as a quid pro quo for benefits given to the son-in-law of Congress
president.
He sought answers to questions as to why DLF should "dole out" flats
and land to Vadra. "If DLF was doing charity to Vadra, then does it do
similar charity to others?" he said.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, "We have not favoured
anyone. We have given the land through through internatinal bidding to the
highest bidder in a transparent manner."
Tewari said, "It is the worst kind of political chicanery. Those very
forces that were responsible for attempts to malign Congress leadership in the
70s and 80s have now resurfaced in a new avatar.
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