New CD doesn’t refute charges against Amar Singh, says BJP

The raging CD war between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP showed no signs of abating on Monday...

The raging CD war between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP showed no signs of abating on Monday, with the latter claiming that the new CD brought out by the SP did not deny “Amar Singh’s involvement in the cash-for-vote episode”.

“It (the new CD) doesn’t respond to the charges against Singh that we brought out in the open. Everybody agrees that Sanjeev Saxena had come with the money and delivered it to three BJP MPs. Now, the only question that arises is who is Saxena and whom is he associated with,” said BJP leader Arun Jaitley at a press conference after Singh released the “counter-CD” in the presence of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan earlier in the day.

“The move by the three parties amounted to the formation of a Cabinet Committee on Forgery and Fabrication,” said Jaitley, calling the involvement of a section of the council of ministers in the project as “unfortunate”.

The BJP general secretary also released the photocopy of Saxena’s son’s admission form in a Delhi University college where he gave his father’s official address as 27, Lodi Estate — which also happens to be the residence of Amar Singh. The BJP leader said there were other pieces of evidence that would prove links between the two.

“The phone conversation between Saxena and Amar Singh proves the latter’s involvement in the cash-for-vote scam,” said Jaitley, adding, “I have never met him (Saxena).”

The CD released by Uma Bharati a couple of days ago showed Saxena visiting Jaitley’s official 9, Ashoka Road residence.

On Amar Singh’s CD, Jaitley said that “Part I” of the Amar Singh-Uma Bharati CD has already been discredited”, and called the latest CD “shameful”. About allegations on Faggan Singh Kulaste’s voice on the tape, the BJP general secretary said that it was doctored.

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Saying that he had kept the option of police action open, Jaitley sought to know “till what extent would the Prime Minister allow his ministers to take part in this-kind of fabrication”. Saying that the political battle could take a legal form at a later stage, Jaitley said that Sanjeev Saxena and his political benefactors remained at the centre of the scandal.