From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Even as Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh refuted the charge of late Ahmed Patel conspiring to destabilise the Modi government after the 2002 Gujarat riots through Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad, Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesman Dr Sambit Patra said it is for Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and not for Jairam, to tell the nation why she engineered the dirty conspiracy since she had mastered it as the driving force to destabilise then Modi government in Gujarat to get it dismissed.
Patra told a press conference that the conspiracy is unravelling slowly after 20 years since after the hard-hitting comments by the Supreme Court while giving a clean chit to Narendra Modi and stating that some people were deliberately engaged in keeping alive the riot issue for the past 16 years with the “ultirior design.”
The time has come for the legal action also against others involved as Teesta as also former IPS officers D Shiv Kumar and Sanjev Bhatt have been already arrested, he said, pointing out that action has to be taken by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Gujarat Police on the basis of the Supreme Court’s strictures.
An earlier SIT set up by the Supreme Court has told it in its report that Teesta and others were not acting for humanity but with a political motive. The first motive was to destabilise and dismiss then elected Chief Minister Modi by the people of Gujarat. The second motive was to harass Modi by defaming him by linking him with the riots to reduce his capacity to provide leadership to the BJP and the nation in future.
Dr Patra claimed the SIT has clarified in its affidavit that Ahmed Patel was only a mole in effecting Sonia Gandhi’s ulterior designs as her chief political advisor. He claimed Sonia Gandhi had even given Rs 30 lakhs as the first instalment to Teesta Setalvad through Ahmed Patel to trap Modi in the false conspiracy.
He also referred to the SIT affidavit saying the money so given to Teesta for providing relief to the riot-hit people, but the donation given to the Gujarat Relief Committee was used for personal expenses. He said Soni was so impressed from Teesta’s acts that she got him honoured with the civilian award of the Padma Shri.
The BJP leader pointed out that an FIR was registered by Feroze Khan Pathan of the Gulbarga Housing Society, where a former Muslim Congress MP was killed, alleging that the money was collected for relief to the riot victims and to set up a museum, but entire money was spent by Tessta on herself. The Gujarat High Court also approved this charge.
Dr Patra said crores collected in the name of the museum were transferred in the accounts of Teesta.
He went on to allege that Teesta was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s kitchen cabinet dubbed as the national security council. Teesta wanted the Congress to send her to the Rajya Sabha as a member, but that did not materialise since the BJP formed the government in 2014.
