`Malicious campaign` will strengthen my case: Chatwal

Hitting out at the "malicious campaign" against him after the government awarded him the Padma Bhushan, NRI hotelier SS Chatwal said on Monday that this had only strengthened his resolve to work for strengthening Indo-US ties.

Washington: Hitting out at the "malicious
campaign" against him after the government awarded him the
Padma Bhushan, NRI hotelier SS Chatwal said on Monday that this
had only strengthened his resolve to work for strengthening
Indo-US ties.

Denying that he carried any "background and baggage,"
Chatwal said none of his fund raising offers or his personal
financial contributions had ever been turned down.

Chatwal, 63, said if the allegations were true, his fund
raisers and contributions to election campaigns of top
Democratic party leaders had not been accepted over the past
several decades.

"Certainly that has not been the case," Chatwal told a news agency.

Chairman of Indian American Democratic Committee, Chatwal
said he is "pained" and "personally hurt" at the
"malicious campaign".

Responding to reports that his offer to raise USD 10
million for the Obama Campaign was turned down, he said: "The
matter of the fact is that he (Obama) was all booked up with
events across the country and a time and date could not be
nailed down".

"Such malicious campaign is personally hurting. But, it
only strengthens my resolve to continue to work and redouble
my efforts for deepening of ties between the two greatest
democracies of the world," he said.

PTI

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