Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Friday said there was no question of corruption in his son Jay Amit Shah's company and it had not received government land or contract worth even a rupee.
He was referring to a report in the news portal The Wire, which claimed that a company owned by Jay Shah saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014.
The BJP president also hit out at the Congress, saying it did not file a defamation suit despite facing several corruption charges while his son Jay Shah has moved the court over the allegations against him.
"The question of corruption does not arise (in Jay's company)," Shah said in response to a question on the report.
"I want to raise some questions here. The Congress has faced many allegations of corruption. Have they ever filed a criminal defamation or a Rs 100 crore civil defamation suit. Why could they not gather the courage to file such a suit?" Shah asked at a programme organised by Aaj Tak channel in Ahmedabad.
Jay, he said, has filed a defamation suit and asked for an inquiry (by approaching the court) as had the BJP.
"As far as the company is concerned, it has not done business worth a rupee with the government. It has not got government land worth a rupee, it has not got any government contract worth even a rupee.
"The company has not taken commission like in the case of Bofors," Shah said, referring to Bofors gun pay-off scandal that had rocked the then Congress government in the 1990s.
The company, he added, dealt in commodities like rice and millets.
"They are saying that the turnover of the company was Rs 80 crore, but they are not showing that it incurred a loss of Rs 1.5 crore. This is a high volume low profit business. Where is money laundering in it?" Shah asked.
Replying to a query on the loan given to the company, Shah said, "You have to understand first that it was not a loan, but a letter of credit. We were given credit to lift material against cash deposits. Jay's cash was lying in the bank and we have paid the loan with interest."
The Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and removal of Amit Shah as BJP president.
The BJP has rejected the charges against its chief's son, who has termed the report "false, derogatory and defamatory.
On October 9, he filed a criminal defamation suit in a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad against seven respondents, including the author of the article and editor of The Wire.
The Congress raked up the issue during its recent campaigns in Gujarat, where elections are due in December.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi repeatedly raised the issue during his roadshow in the state.
