Case against Vadra, Hooda sign of BJP’s panic: Congress

GURGAON: Chief minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said police will investigate the case registered against brother-in-law of Congress party president Robert Vadra and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda , and take appropriate action. This, after an FIR was registered on Saturday in the 2008 land deal case, based on the complaint a resident of Rathiwas village.“We’re fighting against corruption from the first day of us getting elected. Several cases related to the land deal are at different stages of investigation with various agencies, including CBI. Now that a private person has filed a complaint in the case, police will investigate it,” said Khattar.The FIR was filed on the complaint of Surender Sharma against Vadra, Hooda, DLF and Onkareshwar Properties, alleging irregularities in the land deal and licence subsequently given by the department of town and county planning (DTCP). In July 2016, the Khattar government had formed the Justice S N Dhingra commission to probe issues concerning DTCP granting license for developing commercial colony in Sector 83, Gurgaon. The commission has completed its probe, but hasn’t made its report public so far.In 2012, the then director general of land records, Ashok Khemka set aside the mutation of the property sold by Vadra to DLF. However, the then Congress-run state government later gave a clean chit to Vadra.Congress said the BJP-led Haryana government’s move to file an FIR against Robert Vadra and former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda was a “panicked reaction” by a ruling party on the verge of being elbowed out of power in the state.Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said BJP’s “fake news factory” and “dirty tricks department” had become active since elections in four states and the Lok Sabha were drawing closer and perpetuating a “malicious and vicious propaganda” against Congress was the only way they could deflect attention from “real issues”.“To divert attention from the corruption saga of Rafale Deal, the scam of demonetisation, the Rs 12 lakh crore loot through hike in prices of petrol and diesel, the failure to create two crore jobs every year, the rapidly falling rupee, failing economy and complete failure of governance of PM Narendra Modi and the BJP government; a new set of manufactured lies is being served through false and fake FIRs against political opponents,” he said.He said “clear facts” about the deal between Vadra’s firm and DLF were “available in public domain” and that licences were granted in “accordance with prevailing government policy”.