NEW DELHI: With Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka dragging the land deals of Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra into adverse spotlight once again and giving political rivals an opening, the Congress dismissed the "whistleblower" bureaucrat as a BJP stooge .

"I feel BJP has a role behind it. BJP is politicizing the issue. This man is playing into the hands of BJP," Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said, emphasizing that the BJP had reacted to the charge made by Khemka against party chief’s son-in-law. "What is surprising is that when he gives an interview to TV channels, and BJP immediately endorses his stand. It clearly shows that the BJP is behind all this," Afzal said.

The angry response followed BJP’s demand for a probe into Khemka’s charge that Vadra falsified documents to earn premium on a sale of land to realty major DLF, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) seized upon the issue to get even with the Congress for having targeted the Akhilesh government in the Durga Shakthi Nagpal case.

A gleeful SP member of Rajya Sabha, Naresh Agarwal, sought to embarrass the Congress by citing the latter’s charge against Khemka as an endorsement of his own party’s case against Nagpal. The Congress chief had taken up cudgels for Nagpal in an intervention that riled SP leadership. "Everyone seems to be trigger happy. How is this possible? There are service rules; officers cannot talk to the press. The indiscipline is growing. How will we run our state administrations?" Agarwal asked.

The show of solidarity , however, did not amuse the Congress which insisted that cases of Khemka and Nagpal were different. "An attempt is being made to draw a parallel between this issue and that of Durga Shakthi Nagpal in UP, which is wrong," Afzal argued. To buttress his contention, he cited: "Unlike Durga Shakthi who is following the rules and has not gone to media, this man ( Khemka) is giving interviews to TV channels." He demanded that CMs should be given more powers to curb indiscipline among officials. "Else, I agree with senior leader Ramgopal Yadav that IAS officers should be sent back to Delhi and states should run their administrations with provincial service officers," Agarwal said.

Demanding a probe into Khemka’s charge of forgery against Vadra, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "The documents that have come in public domain show it is a serious issue. Congress owes an explanation."

CPM and CPI demanded a thorough probe into Khemka’s allegation. CPM politburo member Brinda Karat asked for a "full and impartial" investigation into Vadra’s land deals in both Haryana and Rajasthan even as she said that the probe ordered by Haryana government was a "whitewash" that had no credibility.

CPI’s D Raja also pressed for an investigation. "These have not been any clear answers to questions which have been raised regarding the finances of these companies and their activities," he said.