Congress distances itself from Navin Chawla

New Delhi, Mar 31 (UNI) The Congress today asserted that it did not have any links with Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, accused by the NDA of receiving donations from Congress MPs for his family trust.

''The Party has nothing to do with him,'' Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla said.

''The matter is between the Election Commission, the President and the government,'' he said.

Mr Chawla is accused by the NDA of misusing Congress MPLAD scheme for the Lepra India Trust run by his wife.

The NDA, in a petition signed by 205 MPs, has demanded the removal of Mr Chawla from the sensitive post of Election Commissioner not only for his alleged links with the Congress but also for the role he played during the Emergency..

The petition was given to President A P J Abdul Kalam who referred it to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a fortnight ago.

Countering the BJP charge that Mr Chawla was close to 10 Janpath (Congress President Sonia Gandhi), Mr Shukla said there were also reports that an Election Commissioner had links with a BJP leader.

As for receiving money from Congress politicians, he said the leaders from the BJP, the SP and SJP had also received money from them.

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