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Wednesday, Jul 04, 2007
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Allegations baseless, says Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday rejected as “false and baseless” the charges levelled against its Presidential candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for some of his actions as Chief Minister of Rajasthan. It denied that he was suspended from his police job, and produced a discharge note that praised Mr. Shekhawat when he resigned as sub-inspector in 1948. Mr. Shekhawat joined the police force as a probationary assistant sub-inspector in 1942.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Shekhawat’s spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said that as Chief Minister in 1977 he did withdraw two cases against himself but that was as part of the movement to undo the ills of Emergency. Mr. Shekhawat was booked under the Essential Commodities Act for leading a “non-cooperation movement” against payment of land tax while he was in jail.

‘Wrongdoings undone’

After the Emergency was over, several wrongdoings were undone such as the withdrawal of the Baroda dynamite case and media censorship, and scrapping of the merger of two news agencies into ‘Samachar.’

“What right does the Congress party have to raise such a question when a Constitutional Amendment brought by their own leader, Indira Gandhi, to save herself after the Allahabad High Court set aside her election in 1975, was undone after the Emergency was lifted?”

‘Fictitious note’

Referring to the charges of corruption levelled by a Rajasthan-based non-governmental organisation against Mr. Shekhawat in a note being “surreptitiously circulated,” Ms. Swaraj said that was a “fictitious and baseless” note. In a letter written to Mr. Shekhawat, the president of the NGO denied any knowledge of the note and disassociated himself and the organisation with it.

To a question, she said Mr. Shekhawat would not visit States as he would have to be accorded protocol as Vice-President.

Ms. Swaraj said NDA chairperson Atal Bihari Vajpayee would speak to United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) leaders to seek their support for Mr. Shekhawat after Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu returned from abroad.

UNPA leader Jayalalithaa has declared that the front would support neither the UPA nor NDA candidate.

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