By IANS
New Delhi : Allegations that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) nominee for President Pratibha Patil had misused funds from the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme should be probed by the privileges committee of parliament, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) demanded Saturday.
A delegation, mainly of MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by NDA convenor George Fernandes, met Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in his chamber in the parliament complex and handed over a memorandum to him.
Vijay Kumar Malhotra, deputy leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha, Shahnawaz Husain, Kishan Singh Sangwan and Raghubir Singh Kaushal accompanied Fernandes.
The memorandum noted that ever since the UPA announced Patil's candidature, there were media reports of "grave allegations" against her ranging from serious financial irregularities in the institutions founded by her to misuse of political influence to protecting a brother accused of being a conspirator in the murder of a rival in the Congress party.
"We are aware that the scrutiny of these alleged scandals does not come within your purview. Nevertheless in the past days the media have highlighted one scam to which we would like to draw your kind attention," said the letter, reproducing copies of the reports which alleged that Patil gave an amount of Rs.3.6 million from her MPLADS funds in 1995 to fund the construction of a sports complex near a college run by a trust managed by her family.