JOIN USCorruption charges levelled against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra has stirred up the hornet’s nest, even as anti-graft campaigner Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he was ready to face defamation charges if the allegations were proved wrong.
Breaking his silence over the allegations, Vadra, in a Facebook post, said he can “handle all negativity.”
“Thanks so much for your concern. I am fine and can handle all the negativity. (I have) lost people I loved, what can be worse?” Vadra reportedly posted on the social networking site.
However, Kejriwal remained firm on the allegations that Vadra had amassed properties worth Rs 300 crore in connivance with real estate giant DLF. “I am ready to face defamation charges if the corruption charges against Robert Vadra are proven wrong. Why is the Congress silent on the merits of the case?” Kejriwal told mediapersons on Saturday.
During a debate on TV, Kejriwal also challenged Vadra to come forward and refute the allegations.
Meanwhile, Anna Hazare, who had recently distanced himself from Kejriwal and his compadres, demanded a judicial probe into the matter.
“Many Congress leaders say these allegations are only because of electoral compulsions and are baseless. We say that if the allegations are untrue, then why don’t they order a judicial probe into it. And now if it is false, file a defamation case against Arvind. Truth will be out,” Anna told mediapersons in Ralegan Siddhi.
Vadra found support in Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who dismissed Kejriwal’s charges. “I am not aware of the rightness or wrongness of the allegations...transactions between two private individuals cannot be questioned on basis of implied act of corruption,” Chidambaram said in Mumbai while responding to a query on whether the government will probe into the allegations against Vadra, agencies reported.