BJP sent cops to Rahul's to help Cong? Akhilesh wonders

'Nobody knows whom the BJP is trying to target,' the Samajwadi Party chief said

Delhi Police's visit to Rahul Gandhi's residence is likely to give further ammunition for the Congress and other Opposition parties to target the ruling BJP on the Adani Group issue in Parliament but Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav sought to take a different line, saying the BJP might have done it to help the Congress.

Yadav’s remarks came even as Rahul set the tone by asking in his preliminary response to Delhi Police whether the action had anything to do with his stand on the conglomerate inside and outside Parliament.

However in Kolkata after his party’s national executive meeting, Yadav wondered whether the BJP had done it to help the Congress. SP has announced that it will keep equidistant from both the BJP and Congress, after a meeting Yadav had with Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"Nobody knows whom the BJP is trying to target. They might take action against someone, but their target might be someone else," PTI quoted him saying. His comments came even as the SP is cooperating with Congress in attempting to corner the Modi government on the Adani issue.

Congress questioned the police notice to Rahul for his remarks in Srinagar on January 30 and have called it the "worst case of political vengeance" and a "shameful act" that proves Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "nervous" about Rahul raising "uncomfortable" and "unanswerable" questions.

The party sought to link the police action to the Opposition attack, particularly Rahul's, on the Adani Group following the Hindenburg report. It also felt that Delhi Police would not have taken such a step without clearance from Home Minister Amit Shah.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge led from the front with a tweet, “the government has gone berserk in the effort to save Modi-ji's 'best friend'! After 45 days, sending Delhi Police to Rahul Gandhi's house for questioning regarding 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is yet another cowardly act of the dictatorial government! Run the Parliament, Set up the JPC, Bring out the truth!”

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot too was on an offensive, squarely putting the onus on Shah saying police would not have taken this recourse without his prodding.

"Without Shah's order, it is not possible that police could show such audacity. Rahul Gandhi said that he has received the notice and he will reply to it but still, the police went to his house. Don't forget what happened to the parties that sent police Indira Gandhi after the Emergency," Gehlot said.

He said the Modi government was setting a bad example by registering cases on statements of opposition leaders made during political campaigns. "If a Union Minister makes similar comments in Rajasthan, should we take the same action as done by the Delhi Police," he asked.

Senior Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is learnt to have helped Rahul draft his preliminary response to Delhi Police, told a press conference that the police had earlier on March 16 accepted Rahul's contention that it would take time to collate details as the yatra was a long one.

“In the past 75 years, has a notice been issued to any leader, including from the ruling party, after a political yatra. This smacks of the worst kind of pettiness," Singhvi, with Gehlot and Congress General Secretary (Jairam Ramesh) on his side, told a press conference.