Gadkari denies Radia links, attacks Congress

NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Saturday denied allegations that he had business interests with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and blamed the Congress party for being behind the “baseless reports”.

Gadkari said the Congress was the inspiration behind these baseless reports to divert public attention from the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Gadkari’s rebuttal came in the wake of allegations by Radia’s former associate Rao Dheeraj Singh that she was helped by Gadkari and two other BJP leaders, L.K. Advani and Ananth Kumar.

The BJP chief described the allegation by Dheeraj Singh as baseless and dared him to come out with the facts if he had any.

Gadkari, addressing a media conference here, maintained he has not met Radia or ever spoken to her and there was no question of benefiting from her. He accused the Congress of being behind the allegation that he was helping Radia in a helicopter deal in Maharashtra.

Gadkari threatened to take legal action against Dheeraj Singh.

Attacking the Congress, the BJP president said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not escape the moral responsibility of so many scams taking place when he was at the helm of affairs and demanded that he step down.

He said the Congress could not wriggle out of the mess it is finding itself in today by sullying the images of its opponents.