Allegations against Ahmed Patel part of BJP's political vengeance: Ashok Gehlot

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said the congress leader Ahmed Patel is not alive to present his side of the story against the allegations raised by the BJP leaders.

Ashok Gehlot was condemning the allegations against the late congress leader by the Gujarat Police's Special Investigating Team, calling it a symbol of political malice.

He said the BJP leaders had levelled allegations against Ahmed Patel even before the last Gujarat elections, but he is not alive to present his side of the story.

The Gujarat Police had recently claimed that civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who was arrested recently, was part of a "larger conspiracy" carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to dismiss the then BJP government in the state after the 2002 riots.

"Today Mr. Ahmed Patel is not among us to present his side, so false allegations are being levelled against him for political gains. This politics of vengeance is proof of the BJP-RSS' character," Gehlot tweeted.

He also slammed the BJP for allegedly trying to implicate Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and former vice president Hamid Ansari in a case.

"The BJP is showing the height of political vendetta by accusing Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Questioning a personality like former Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari on petty allegations made by a Pakistani man also shows the real face of the BJP," he said.

Last week, the BJP had accused Ansari of inviting to India a Pakistani journalist who has claimed to have spied for the Inter-Services Intelligence, but the former vice president dismissed the charge as a "litany of falsehood".

PTI with edits