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Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad, who has been campaigning against alleged corruption in Delhi's cricket body, on Sunday addressed a press conference in New Delhi but did not take the name of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, under whose charge as president of DDCA he claimed there were financial bunglings.
Demanding an ED and DRI probe into the affairs of DDCA, he refused to join issues with Jaitley, who had called him a "trojan horse" in the BJP, saying "one should refrain from making it a battle between Trojan horse and Achille's heels".
Flanked by former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi and former cricketer Surinder Khanna at the media interaction that lasted less than two hours, the third time MP from Darbhanga repeatedly said there was no personal fight in his principled campaign but played footage of a DDCA AGM of 2011-12 CD which purportedly showed Azad questioning Jaitley who was in the chair.
The footage also purportedly showed Jaitley defending the DDCA office bearers who were being questioned by Azad on alleged financial bunglings.
The press conference came in the midst of Aam Aadmi Party leaders and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Jaitley of being lax on corruption in DDCA when he headed it as president for 14 years from 1999.
Jaitley had dismissed the allegations against him, saying this was an attempt by AAP and Kejriwal to deflect attention from the case of corruption against his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, who was being questioned by the CBI in connection with an alleged scam.
Asked repeatedly as to why he was not taking the name of Jaitley and what were his allegations against him, Azad said there was no personal or political fight. "It is a matter of principles and we have been fighting this battle for the last nine years," he said.
Asked whether he has been gagged by party president Amit Shah, who had summoned him a couple of days ago and asked him not to hold the press conference, Azad made light of the meeting saying, "I had a good breakfast with him. He offered me idlis. I said it was very good."
Asked about Jaitley's interview to a daily in which he had suggested that Azad had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi during UPA's tenure to "fix" Jaitley, Azad said his late father was a Congressman and they had family relations.
"MPs of various parties meet each other and nothing can be read into this," Azad said.
Azad, on the question of meeting Gandhis, said as an MP he meets a lot of people and, if this was a crime, nobody can meet anybody in Parliament.
"We should not go into all this and we should concentrate on corruption in DDCA. There is nothing political here. I have been raking up this issue for a long time. Had it been so then my big brother, who had to become Director (Intelligence), during UPA why was he superseded?
"The person who has levelled this allegation against me, he too meets a lot of people. So, should I level some allegation against him? That's not right. My father used to say that if one wants to become a big man, one should not indulge in small talk," he said.
Azad said he has not levelled allegations against anybody and that it is upto the CBI how it proceeds with the inquiry.
Asked whether it was a personal fued with Jaitley, Azad said he does not have any personal fight with anybody despite people making remarks against him.
"What personal fight can I have with anybody? People say a lot of things to me. Sometimes somebody says Trojan horse. I have never replied. For the last nine years, I have only said there is corruption in DDCA.
"Our prime minister is our hero, in the country and outside. We admire him so much that he is fighting against corruption. We are not fighting against any person. I am there in the fight against corruption with him. If the party takes action against me, it will not be proper," he said.
Asked specifically about the kind of allegations which he wanted to level against Jaitley, he said that he was not levelling any allegations but only saying that the corruption, which has been going on in the DDCA for the last so many years, must end. (MORE) PTI SSC TDS ST
Asked how much was Jaitley responsible for the corruption in DDCA, Azad said," You are trying to make me fight with someone which I will not. I have been fighting this (battle against corruption) for the last nine years. The new party (AAP) which has come is now making it a political issue. This was my issue.
"You are trying to make it a fight between two individuals. Something which is a principled stand, you are making it personal and political. We should look at the crux of the problem rather than create a wedge between people or make it look political," he told the media, apparently referring to the hype surrounding the issue.
The video that was shown at the press conference claimed around 14 companies to whom payments had been made when Jaitley was at the helm of DDCA were non-existent. When those who conducted the 'sting' operation visited the addresses of the companies mentioned in the records they could not locate them.
"The business governance norm is to float tenders. But these fraud companies are given work worth crores of rupees but the nature of work is not mentioned.
"Corruption has happened and the SFIO said there were financial irregularities. DDCA is LIC (legal institute of corruption). DDCA accounts are forged. These are fraud companies which didn't exist but were given contracts worth crores," Azad said.
He said although CBI has given notice to DDCA with regard to alleged corruption, the "criminal aspect" has still to be looked into.
"I would like the Enforcement Directorate and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to investigate. POCA (Prevention of Corruption Act) can also be invoked in DDCA affairs.
"We need to find the trail of the money, where the money has gone," the BJP MP said.