PM to Jaitley’s defence, draws a parallel with Advani’s case

In a strong show of support for Arun Jaitley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the Finance Minister would emerge stronger from the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) scandal.

Modi drew a parallel between Jaitley and party veteran LK Advani, who was once charged and acquitted in the Hawala scam during the late 1990s.

Advani was on the dais as the Prime Minister described how he had come out with “flying colours” from the Hawala scandal.

Speaking to party MPs during the course of the weekly meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, Modi reportedly said the Congress was making “baseless” and “manufactured” allegations against Jaitley. The PM is said to have referred to Congress’ “wrong” allegations against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh during the Monsoon Session of Parliament because of its “inability to digest its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections”.

However, no reference was made to similar charges made by BJP MP Kirti Azad, who was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu quoted Modi as having said that BJP leaders were the target of attack by the Congress because it wanted to “defame” the Government.

“The Prime Minister gave the example of LK Advani. The government at that time tried to implicate him in the Hawala case. Advani came through with flying colours and the strategy of Congress boomeranged. [The] same thing is going to happen regarding allegations against Jaitley... Congress is inventing issue[s] to defame the government,” Naidu said quoting the PM. “No one has any doubt about his (Jaitley’s) honesty and integrity. The allegations against him are baseless,” Modi is reported to have said.

BJP has rallied around Jaitley even as the Congress and AAP have tried to corner him over the issue and demanded his resignation. Party chief Amit Shah issued a strong statement in his support on Monday. A number of Union Ministers had also joined Jaitley, a key party strategist, in a court where he had filed defamation cases against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders.

Aiming to take the battle to the Opposition, BJP MPs of the Lok Sabha will be spending one night in each Assembly constituency in their seat to spread awareness about the “good work” being done by the Modi government and the opposition’s campaign to “defame” it. This will be done in January, Naidu said.