BJP comes out in support of Dasgupta

'He is within his rights to raise the question in public interest'

The BJP on Thursday came out in support of veteran CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta, who had sought a probe into Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati’s alleged Swiss bank account.

The BJP said Dasgupta was “well within his rights to raise the question in public interest,” like he did by drawing the prime minister’s attention to Vahanvati’s alleged Swiss bank account in Singapore.

Dasgupta had moved a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha against Vahanvati on Monday after the country’s top law officer issued a legal notice to the senior CPI leader, accusing him of making “false and baseless allegations.”

Dasgupta had said Vahanvati’s notice was not only “illegal,” but also “an attempt to influence me by improper means in my parliamentary conduct and also to intimidate and obstruct me from performing my duties.”

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain did not find anything wrong in the Left leader’s action. “He was only performing his parliamentary duty,” Hussain said. On Vahanvati’s legal notice to Dasgupta, Hussain said: “The Left MP has the power to raise questions in public interest. Also, this is a part of his parliamentary power.”

When asked that Vahanvati’s notice raises questions over how he came to know about the written communication between Dasgupta and the prime minister, Hussain said: “These issues will be handled by the privilege committee of which I am also a member. So it will not be proper for me speak more on it.”

Karanjawala & Company Advocates had sent the legal notice to Dasgupta on August 24 on behalf of the attorney general. “Our client has been given to understand that you have written a letter to the prime minister, making broad ranging, false and baseless allegations against our client,” the notice stated.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Tuesday told the House that she had accepted the privilege motion and the matter was under consideration.

The Left MP from West Bengal had complained to the prime minister that Vahanvati’s alleged Swiss bank account in Singapore had witnessed “frequent deposit of huge amount of foreign currency” and “transfer of money from that account to his relatives.”