By IANS
New Delhi : In a move to counter the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) stepped up campaign against its presidential nominee Pratibha Patil, the Congress plans to launch an attack against the opposition-backed candidate, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Although Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said her party "would not like to stoop to the level of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)" and "would like to maintain the dignity of the election to the highest constitutional post", some leaders have already begun the groundwork to counter the NDA campaign.
"We have been keeping quiet as we have to maintain decorum in this election. However, the opposition is taking our silence for granted," a senior Congress leader told IANS.
The UPA is furious about the BJP's "smear campaign" against Patil, who got a reprieve Tuesday when the Supreme Court dismissed a petition against her candidature on the grounds that she was indebted to the public exchequer.
But the Congress is not willing to sit quietly.
Senior party leaders have indicated that they would be preparing a document listing the charges against Shekhawat and his family members in the past.
"We will launch our counter attack from Wednesday (last day for withdrawal of nominations)," said an insider.
The main basis would be an open letter circulated among MPs and MLAs – who constitute the electoral college that elects the president. The letter has listed almost three dozen questions for Shekhawat, who has asked for "conscience votes" in the July 19 presidential election.
The letter by a group comprising Congress leaders in Rajasthan, the Rajasthan Matdata Mandal, Mansarovar, has raised allegations of bribery, political blackmail and nepotism.
Other documents are also doing the rounds.
One claims that Shekhawat had intervened to help his son-in-law Narpat Singh Razvi, currently industries minister in the Vasundhara Raje government, garner a huge amount as compensation for land, which never belonged to him, acquired for the Indira Gandhi canal.
According to the document, Razvi was made owner of the land even before he was born thanks to forged records. The Congress raised the issue in 1994 – when Shekhawat was chief minister of the state – and complained that Razvi's father had tampered with land records to help his son pose as the owner of the land in Momewala village.
The matter was raised in the assembly in 1994 when the Congress demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry. Assembly records during that period indicate that Shekhawat had said in the house that the matter had already been inquired into by the CBI and the agency had reported that it was not a criminal act.
However, in a letter to Rajasthan Congress leaders, then personnel minister Margarat Alva had clarified that there had not been any CBI inquiry into the complaint and that it would not be in a position to probe into it unless the state government asked for it.
"Shekhawat thus misled the house to shield his son-in-law and his family," said the document.
It quotes a Punjab Kesri report claiming that Shekhawat had given 180 bighas of land – acquired by the state government in 1985 – to the Birla family free of cost.
An allegedly communally inflammatory speech during the 1993 assembly polls is also mentioned. The Supreme Court, the document states, had found prime facie evidence of Shekhawat indulging in corrupt practices while contesting from Pali in 1993 and had directed the Rajasthan High Court to retry him for indulging in corrupt practices.
He was alleged to have made a speech stating: "You decide, if you want a Mandir (temple) erected on the Ram Janambhoomi you will have to vote for the lotus (BJP symbol), but if you want the Babri Masjid rebuilt you may vote for the Congress' hand symbol."
He was also quoted as saying: "If a Masjid is constructed on the disputed site we will again raze it to ground."
The BJP has denied the charges. "These allegations are based on documents that are fabricated. They are baseless," senior BJP leader Mukthar Abbas Naqvi told IANS.
Pointing out that the media was running a "malicious campaign" against the presidential candidates, he said: "I find the whole campaign quite wrong. The highest constitutional office should not be maligned like this."