Continuing its broadside against United Progressive Alliance-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday asserted that there was documentary proof about the allegations levelled against her.
Describing as bold and mechanical the stand by Pratibha that all allegations against her were motivated, the party said, 'there was not even the remotest denial of any specific allegation; all of which are based upon documentary evidence, including proceedings of the court, inspection report of the Reserve Bank of India as also the Finance ministry.'
Talking to media persons, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said Pratibha's denial 'conceals more than it reveals.'
All the allegations were related to gross abuse of money of small depositors 'admittedly squandered away by a bank of which she was not only the founder but also retained
effective control till the very last when it went bust...'
Prasad referred to the recent allegations made by the widow of a murdered Congresss leader and said the investigation into the murder was 'grossly unfair' because one of the principal conspirators happens to be her brother, a charge found prima-facie true by the high court, which had referred the matter to CBI.
Besides, there was also a charge of diversion of her MP Local Area Development funds into a trust of her husband when she was a lawmaker.
Describing the revelations about her as 'disturbing, stark and very specific,' Prasad regretted that Pratibha was keeping a conspicuous silence on all these charges which further "reinforced" their suspicious about her involvement, and the people of this country ought to know if a person "with such a past" was fit to occupy the highest constitutional office of this country.