Headlines
Yacht row: Gadkari says he has done no wrong
New Delhi/Mumbai, Feb 27
Union minister Nitin
Gadkari Friday denied any wrongdoing after a media report said he had
enjoyed a two-day holiday on a yatch owned by the Essar group on French
Riviera.
An unruffled Gadkari told the media that he had gone
"just to see" the yacht and stressed he never took any money from any
corporate entity.
While the Congress said the Shashi Ruia-led
Essar group was wooing Gadkari, the BJP made light of the Indian Express
expose also involving Congress leaders and journalists.
Speaking
in Mumbai, Gadkari said: "I have never taken money from corporate
groups for the tours. I was going to Norway with my family and I paid
for the entire tour.
"I took a ride on the yacht as the Ruia
family invited me upon learning my visit to Europe," the former BJP
president said at the Maharashtra BJP headquarters.
"I was not
holding any public office... I was not an MP or MLA. It was a private
tour. I have never taken money from any corporate (entity). I have done
nothing wrong," said the road transport and highways minister.
Gadkari stepped down as BJP president after a controversy erupted over his alleged stakes in shell companies in January 2013.
Gadkari,
who also holds the portfolio of shipping, said: "I am always eager to
see new things. I could have even paid for the ticket had the Ruias
issued tickets for boarding the yacht."
Asked about the ride on
Essar group's helicopter from Nice to the yacht, he said: "There was no
other option. The chopper belonged to the Ruias and there was no road on
the sea that could have taken me (to the yacht)."
An Essar spokesperson said the company had not indulged in any wrongdoing.
"The newspaper article and media news are based on information that is stolen or fabricated.
"We
have initiated legal action, and a compliant has been filed against
suspected individuals responsible for stealing and fabricating documents
from a private corporate organization which is as much an offence as
theft from government department.
"The inferences being drawn from the information being published are completely false and incorrect," the spokesperson said.
Essar
is a multinational with annual revenues of $35 billion and with
investments in steel, energy, infrastructure and services. With
operations in 29 countries, it employs over 60,000 people, says its web
site.
Congress leader P.C. Chacko, however, said that no corporate would extend benefits to anyone for free.
Chacko
refused to accept Gadkari's argument that he was a nobody when,
according to the Express, Essar sponsored the holiday for Gadkari and
his family July 7-9, 2013.
If Gadkari was a "nobody", Essar
"would not have taken him seriously", Chacko said. "They knew he is
important in his party and also he is going to be someone more
important, so they will get some benefit out of that."
The
Bharatiya Janata Party was dismissive of the report. "This kind of news
keeps coming every day," BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
The
Express report, based on internal Essar communication, detailed how the
group cultivated individuals in positions of power and influence and
showered them with gifts and favours to push its business interests.
Those
who sought - and got - favours from Essar included politicians from
other parties including the Congress as well as journalists.
The
Express also said that Congress leaders Sriprakash Jaiswal, Digvijaya
Singh and Motilal Vora - both former chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh -
and BJP MP Varun Gandhi sought jobs in Essar for people they knew.
The
Express said a whistleblower had decided to go public with internal
company communications of the Essar group that allegedly show how it
cultivated individuals in positions of power and influence.
This
is now a subject matter of a public interest litigation, to be filed in
the Supreme Court by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation.