Piyush central minister, not CA: Sinha

Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said there was no need for Union Minister Piyush Goyal to defend Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, mired in a row after a news website published about Shah’s firm 16,000 percent growth.

“This move was absolutely uncalled for. Piyush Goyal is a Central Minister, not a Chartered Accountant of Jay Shah. By doing so, the BJP has lost the high moral ground it had acquired over the years,” said Yashwant, who recently blasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic policy in general and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in particular.

Yashwant, who was here in the State Capital to pay tributes to Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan on his birth anniversary, also expressed his reservation over the manner in which Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was permitted to plead the case on behalf of Jay. “This was an avoidable decision,” he said while refusing to comment on the merits of the case.

“A proper investigation should be carried out by any competent government agency to find out the truth about the report published in ‘The Wire’ about Jay Shah,” said Yashwant, who served as External Affairs and Finance Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet.

Lamenting that the defamation suit filed against the website was meant to suppress the media, Yashwant said media was the fourth pillar of democracy. “Any attempt to suppress it was highly deplorable,” averred the senior BJP leader.