Congress-BJP trade charges over Michel

Politics continued to be on the boil in the national capital over the extradition of Christian Michel with the BJP alleging that the Congress is “married to corruption” and “rattled” over the development, and the Congress dismissing it as a case of the "pot calling kettle black."

Mounting a blistering attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family and alleging that Congress lawyers are defending the alleged middleman in AgustaWestland chopper deal to protect "the family", BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra charged that all three lawyers, including Youth Congress functionary Aijo K Joseph, who appeared for Michel in a court, had links with the Congress.

“Is it not too much of a coincidence? As soon as Michel landed in India, all senior leaders of the Congress and their lawyers get involved in defending him,” Patra said dismissing the party's decision to expel Joseph as a “charade and drama.”

Joseph, who had appeared as Michel's lawyer on Wednesday, has been suspended by the Congress.

Youth Congress President Kehav Chand Yadav and Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill hit back at the BJP for linking Congress with Michel on the basis of a lawyer, and said that the BJP should instead answer on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's family members taking fees from PNB scam-accused Nirav Modi, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad representing Subrata Roy and Vasundhara Raje giving an affidavit in favour of Lalit Modi in London.

Patra, meanwhile said that while in other controversial cases the Congress had forced is lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi to withdraw from them, in the case of Christian Michel, the party had expelled Joseph, but he remains a lawyer for the accused as "10 Janpath", the residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, wants its own people to be in touch with Michel.