Vaidya voice for RSS 145;wronged146;

The media and the Opposition may be gunning for them. However, the RSS has come to the defence of its three swyamsevaks 8212; Ram Naik, Ana...

The media and the Opposition may be gunning for them. However, the RSS has come to the defence of its three swyamsevaks 8212; Ram Naik, Ananth Kumar and Pramod Mahajan.

In a signed article in the latest issue of Sangh mouthpiece Panchjanya, RSS spokesman M.G. Vaidya has given the three Union ministers a clean chit, dismissed allegations against them as baseless and concluded that demands for their resignation were borne out of prejudice.

Vaidya said there was no reason for Petroleum Minister Ram Naik to quit as no decision to allot LPG agencies or pumps was taken by him or his Ministry. The job was handled by Dealer Selection Boards, headed by retired judges.

Each board had two members belonging to oil or gas companies. He said he did not rule out the possibility of board members coming under pressure or being approached in certain cases. Even if a member came under some influence, he should be held responsible for it, rather than the minister.

The Sangh spokesman referred to cancellation of all allotments of petrol pumps and gas agencies and said that the matter ought to have come to a close at this point. Raising a hue and cry over the issue in Parliament was pure party politics. It had no effect on the life of the common man.

Making a defence of the string of allotments of prime land to Sangh Parivar outfits at Delhi, Vaidya termed description of the issue as a scam as wrong and the demand for resignation of Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar irrational. He sought to know if alloting lands to institutions run by the RSS was a crime.

8216;8216;The RSS,8217;8217; he said, 8216;8216;is not a banned organisation. It conducts its activities openly. It has innumerable swyamsevaks, workers and well-wishers.8217;8217; He maintained that the RSS bodies working in interest of society had the right to apply to the Government for allotment of land.

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What had to be ascertained was whether these allotments had been made in accordance with rules laid for the purpose, he said. 8216;8216;The minister can be faulted if the rules have been violated,8217;8217; Vaidya said, adding that nobody had charged Ananth Kumar and Jagmohan with violation of rules. Therefore, the demand for his Ananth Kumar8217;s resignation 8216;8216;appears wrong8217;8217;.

On allegations of Madhu Sharma, wife of the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case prime suspect Ravi Kant Sharma, against Union Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan, Vaidya said prima facie these appeared to be unbelievable, illogical, ill-intentioned and deliberate. He alleged that she had levelled these charges at somebody8217;s instigation.