BJP lawmaker and former cricket Kirti Azad today openly dared his party senior Arun Jaitley in tweets, a day after he alleged corruption in the Delhi cricket body that the Finance Minister headed for 13 years till 2013, but stopped short of naming him.
‘ hello dear @arunjaitley hampar defemation file kar rahe ho na? Please karo na Don’t take injunction, don’t gag freedom of speech.
— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzadMP) December 20, 2015
‘ Mera naam kyon hata diya @arunjaitley #Aap ne toh mere letters dikhae theey, mujhpar karo na case, registered post se maine bheje theey — Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzadMP) December 20, 2015
Mr Azad on Sunday alleged massive corruption in the DDCA or the Delhi and District Cricket Association that included contracts given to fake companies and crores paid to them.
Mr Azad told reporters: “I just want to expose corruption… This is not personal or against one person,” the former cricketer said.
A video showed at the media conference claimed DDCA had given contracts to various companies but the addresses given for these were found to be false. It also alleged that the DDCA hired office and other equipment, at Rs. 16,000 for a laptop per day, Rs. 3000 for printer per day, Rs. 5000 for ‘puja ki thali’.
The DDCA blamed its former chief Sneh Bansal and absolved Arun Jaitley, who has been targeted by Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “After Arun Jaitley left, the president of DDCA sent Rs. 155 crore without any authorisation… We suspended him… took away all his powers,” said DDCA treasurer Ravindra Manchanda.
Soon after Mr Azad’s revelations, the Delhi government announced an inquiry headed by former Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam.
Mr Jaitley has said he will sue Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders for defamation.
In a Facebook post, Mr Jaitley said, “The Serious Fraud Investigation Office, under the UPA regime, investigated and could not find a shred of evidence against me.”
After Mr Azad promised to make more revelations at a media conference, BJP chief Amit Shah reportedly met him and tried to dissuade him from making allegations against Mr Jaitley when the AAP was also targeting him, sources have told media.