Sushma seeks probe into her 'business ties' with Reddys

Swaraj, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should appoint the Congress General Secretary himself to investigate the matter. Swaraj  reiterated that she had “nothing to do with the Reddy brothers, neither in the past nor now.”

“I welcome the statement of Digvijay Singh and I want a probe so that the truth comes out and I get justice,” she said on a day when one of the three Reddy brothers, Janardhan Reddy, was arrested in Karnataka by the CBI in a case of illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh and whisked away to Hyderabad

“The government can hold any probe against me through any agency. Or, as the prime minister had himself made the offer in the House that the Leader of Opposition can investigate the matter, I now say the prime minister can himself hold any investigation against me,” Swaraj said.

If the prime minister appoints Digvijay Singh his representative for such a probe, she would be most happy as then Singh “can satisfy his curiosity by conducting his own investigation,” Swaraj said.

Earlier in the day, the Congress General Secretary accused Swaraj and M Venkaiah Naidu of having “business relations” with Karnataka's mining barons.

Reacting to the arrest of  Janardhana Reddy, Singh said: “Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu had business relations with the Reddy brothers. This action (arrest) should have come three years ago. The Reddy brothers were not only indulging in illegal mining, but had also taken protection money from others. They were virtually running an unchallenged empire there.”

Singh said the BJP says one thing on corruption in Parliament and another on the streets.
“I have not seen any political party which indulges in as much double-talk as the BJP on the issue of corruption,” said Singh.