Congress's charge against Jaitley due to political propaganda: BJP

New Delhi, Dec 24: BJP today accused Congress of putting its own government in the dock by targeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over DDCA affairs, saying a probe ordered by the Manmohan Singh dispensation found no "fraud" but it was now raking up the issue as part of a "political propaganda".

BJP said Congress was "rattled" by the developments in the cases lodged when the UPA government was in power and had resorted to "lies" out of "poliitcal malice" to tarnish the image of Jaitley whose honesty and integrity are cited by others as an "example" in the public life.

BJP media cell head Shrikant Sharma told a press conference that a group was working to protect the corrupt and alleged that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was its head as he cited cases like National Herald and Airtel Maxis (2G) to target the party.

Facing taunts from the opposition parties over the suspension of Kirti Azad who targeted Jaitley over DDCA issue, Sharma said the Narendra Modi government's agenda included zero tolerance against corruption and cited a number of figures to buttress the point.

Government has unearthed Rs 16000 crore of black money, out of which Rs 12000 crore was seized, earned over Rs 3.35 lakh crore and Rs 2 lakh crore by the allocation of 67 coal blocks and telecom spectrum and saved over Rs 15,000 crore of public money by plugging subsidy leakages, he said, noting that UPA had given zero-loss theory about coal and spectrum allocations.

"Congress has been rattled by the developments in National Herald case and the ones involving Virbharda Singh and Aircel- Maxis. Its vice president Rahul Gandhi has thus resorted to speaking lies on a daily basis to attack the government. He keeps quiet in Parliament because he knows he will get a befitting repply there... "Due to its desperation, Congress as part of a political propaganda is levelling false allegations against Jaitley... It is putting its own government in a dock," he said, noting that the probe by Serious Fraud Investigation Office had come on the complaint of the "same honourable MP", a reference to BJP MP Kirti Azad.

With Congress and AAP attacking BJP for its suspension of Azad for attacking Jaitley, Sharma also hit out at AAP, calling it 'Pakhandi Aam Aadmi Party (Papi)' and accusing it of indulging in "shrill drama to save the corrupt but doing nothing on real issues facing Delhi."

He charged the AAP government wasted public money by holding a special session of Delhi assembly to save an officer facing corruption charges but it did nothing of this sort when the national capital had faced the dengue threat.

He accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of resorting to "vulgarity" in political discourse with his use of "absuive" words.

PTI