JOIN US “He had been moving in the inner corridors of the party and the government. Whether he was trying to use the party, only time will tell,” said a party leader, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.
US diplomatic cables leaked on WikiLeaks and published by “The Hindu” newspaper purportedly say that payoffs had been made to MPs to ensure majority for the Congress-led government in the confidence vote over the India-US nuclear deal 2008. The cables quoted Kapur as saying that a sum of Rs 50 crore has been formed to bribe MPs. “I do not know anything. I have not witnessed anything,” a grim Kapur told reporters.
But controversies have followed Kapur. In 2008, Kapur was rejected to be ‘considered for any post of sensitive nature’ by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA) reportedly on complaints by the then union minister Renuka Chowdhary.
Kapur has said he had not got any official information on the matter so far. Still, he built up a profile of a multi-faceted personality - as a diplomatic observer, political activist, social worker and media personality.
Delhi-based Kapur, in his early forties, emerged in the party as a youth leader in the city. Reports and photographs of Kapur, along with wife Varuna, attending the social functions in the capital are widely publicised on the internet.
One such report, headlined ‘Nachiketa Kapur attends wedding’ goes on to say, ‘The show stealer was Rahul Gandhi.’