Probe Sushma Swaraj's commercial links to Reddy brothers: Digvijay Singh

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said in Jammu on Monday the CBI should probe the "commercial ties" between senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Karnataka's mining barons, the Reddy brothers, one of who was arrested by the agency in an illegal mining case.

Talking to newspersons in Jammu, Singh, who is on a day’s visit to Jammu, said the “commercial ties of Reddy brothers with Sushma Swaraj and (former BJP president) M Venkiah Naidu too should be probed."

The Congress leader's comments came after the arrest of former Karnataka BJP minister Gali Janardhan Reddy who was running a multi-billion dollar mining empire.

He also lashed out at social activist Anna Hazare and described the anti-corruption crusade as an RSS-sponsored movement. “Anna is a mascot of BJP and RSS,” he said.

“First, RSS used Baba Ramdev and later Anna Hazare to divert the attention of people from the terrorism related cases against its activists,” he alleged. Some activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are under the scanner over their links to terror acts, including the Malegaon bombing.

However, Singh adopted a very cautious line when asked whether the Congress would support the resolution proposed to be brought in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. “It is for the high command to decide, I cannot comment on it,” he said.

The Congress’ stand is important in Jammu and Kashmir where most Kashmir centric parties, including National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, have raised a pitch over the hanging of Afzal Guru, who is on death row for his role in the 2001 terror attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec 13, 2001. They say it would cause major law and order problems. The Congress is ruling the state in alliance with the National Conference.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made the central government aware of the repercussions of the hanging of Afzal Guru, who belongs to the Valley.

Independent MLA Abdul Rashid has submitted a resolution for discussion and passage, seeking clemency for Afzal Guru.