New Delhi
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]S[/dropcap]uspended BJP MP Kirti Azad has wasted no time in responding to the second show cause notice served on him by the party, asking why he should not expelled for indulging in anti-party activities. Kirti Azad was served the first notice when the BJP placed him under suspension after Azad held a press conference to expose corruption in Delhi district Cricket Association, which was headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for 14 years until 2013.
Sources said Azad sent in his reply to the second show cause notice on Friday forenoon. The former Indian cricketer and three-term MP from Darbhanga in Bihar has denied allegations of engaging in anti-party activities and claimed that charges leveled against him were based on media reports and dated back to months.
Azad has also tried to make a case that certain elements within the party were baying for his blood for exposing the corruption in the cricket body. The details of his reply were not yet known.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n the second show cause notice, the BJP accused Azad of lowering the prestige of the party and its office-bearers. “You have colluded with opposition parties, including Congress and AAP, and embarrassed the party and its office bearers. You have both inside and outside Parliament conducted yourself in a manner which clearly amounts to indiscipline and anti-party activities…” a BJP Parliamentary Board notice to Azad read.
The BJP leadership has tried to give the impression that it was punishing Kirti for speaking out of turn against the party and ‘hobnobbing with the Congress and AAP leaders’, but the fact remains that the DDCA scandal and alleged involvement of Arun Jaitley is the prime reasons behind cracking the whip on Azad. The BJP leadership had desperately tried to prevent Azad from holding his “bare all” press conference. So much so that Party Chief Amit Shah himself summoned Azad and asked him not to cause embarrassment to the party by holding the PC which would be seen as an attack on Jaitley. However, Azad remained defiant and held a series of press conferences in the last few days where has come out with serious charges of financial irregularities in the DDCA and also levelled pinpointed allegations against Arun Jaitley.
In his three-page reply, Kirti has tried to shift the focus on the DDCA scandal and submitted a set of documents and three discs containing evidences of corruption in the cricket body during the stewardship of Arun Jaitley between 1999 and 2013.
Kirti has argued that he should not be penalised for exposing corruption in the cricket body, which was out of the purview of the party.
- Supreme Court rejects plea to tally all VVPAT slips with EVM votes; says ‘no going back to paper ballot’ - April 26, 2024
- US report citing human rights violations is deeply biased: India - April 25, 2024
- Kotak Mahindra Bank shares tank 13%. Market Cap erodes by Rs.37,721 cr post-RBI action - April 25, 2024
I am surprised that he remained quite for so long and became active now. There is something fishy. Though his claim that he exposed corruption at DDCA, what was he doing so long and only picks up only after AK raised the issue – AK himself remained quiet until CBI raid on his Officer – There seems to be some kind of coordinated efforts between these people.