Have we taken control of courts too?: Rajnath on Oppn charge

With INDIA bloc parties stepping up their attack on the government over alleged misuse of probe agencies after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Opposition is trying to mislead people and "if someone thinks they can get away with such remarks, this is not possible".

In an interview, Rajnath said the opposition parties were trying to cover up their own "mistakes and weaknesses".

He also rejected Congress allegations of BJP's "washing machine" making leaders who join it from other parties "clean" of the cases faced by them earlier.

Answering a query related to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Rajnath asked why he has not got relief from the courts.

"Even if it is assumed that he went to jail because of us, why is he not getting relief? Have we taken control of the courts also? What are these people trying to say? Let them have the audacity to say we have captured courts also...is it possible?" he asked.

Asked about the allegations of opposition parties including the Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, Rajnath said the probe agencies including the Enforcement Directorate and CBI and also Income Tax were doing their job.

"India has to be made corruption-free, this is the resolve of our Prime Minister. If they (opposition parties) feel that they have been framed, their leaders are in jail on baseless allegations, they can get protection from courts. If Sanjay Singh (AAP leader) can get bail, why other (party leaders) have not been able to get similar relief," he asked.

"It seems they don't have faith in courts. If there is a verdict against in courts, we will accept it," he said.

Apart from Kejriwal, some other AAP leaders including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia are in jail in the Delhi excise policy case. Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha is also in jail in the same case.

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in January in a money laundering case.

"There is no washing machine, agencies have to do their work and they will do so. Are we telling agencies to arrest a specific person, these are baseless allegations. They are trying to cover up their mistakes, weaknesses, are trying to mislead the people and if they think that by misleading they can get away from allegations of corruption, they are mistaken," he said.

Answering a query on several Congress leaders joining the BJP, he said they feel Congress is not fulfilling the objectives for which it was created and is a "family party".

"Family is running the party, that is why Congress is getting into this bad situation," he said.

Rajnath said there should be healthy democracy in the country and there should be people to fulfil the responsibility.