Amit Shah, a normally cool customer, appeared a tad flabbergasted when asked to explain the inclusion of Himanta Biswa Sarma in the BJP who is accused of corruption. When asked specifically if the departments headed by Sarma during the three terms of Congress government will also be probed, the BJP President said, "Do you want to debate? I have given the answer, write it)." The senior BJP leader, however, strongly maintained that the head of the government is responsible for any corruption charges of his government. Asked how BJP will justify inclusion of Sarma in the party despite having serious corruption charges against him, Shah said, "Himanta has fully explained to us how corruption took place and we have understood it in detail)."
Watch the exchange below which takes place around 20 minutes:
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Shah was responding to a query whether BJP has given a clean chit to Sarma, a former Congress minister, regarding his alleged involvement in corruption like Saradha chit fund case and Louis Berger scam. Sarma, who recently joined BJP and is now the state Election Committee Convenor, was questioned by CBI for his alleged role in Saradha chit fund scam while he was with the Congress.
When asked if Sarma, who was last year declared as the key accused in the Louis Berger bribery case in a BJP document before joining the party, was corrupt or not according to him, Shah said, "I will not reply to this. This is not the way to put a question."
Mediapersons told Shah that while it was his choice to answer or not a question, he cannot "chastise" or "teach journalists" how to put questions.
Shah then said, "How does my acceptance matter. We said probe will be done and whosoever was there will be probed." When asked specifically if the departments headed by Sarma during the three terms of Congress government will also be probed, the BJP President said, "Do you want to debate? I have given the answer, write it)."
Asked how BJP will justify inclusion of Sarma in the party despite having serious corruption charges against him, Shah said, "Himanta has fully explained to us how corruption took place and we have understood it in detail)." When pointed out about Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's repeated attack over inclusion of "corrupt Himanta" in BJP, Shah said, "No one can be more corrupt than Gogoi ji. A government is led by Chief Minister. Does he want to say that Himanta was running the government? It is CM's responsibility.
With agency inputs
