New Delhi: The opposition on Wednesday targeted the government over media reports that claimed Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son had been ticked off by the Prime Minister for alleged misconduct, with Congress questioning what the allegations are about.
Congress General Secretary and Media Department Chairperson Ajay Maken said that the Prime Minister's Office had tweeted to say that rumours against Rajnath Singh's son are plain lies.
"The strange thing is that when as opposition party Congress has not levelled any allegations against his (Rajnath's) son, so the country and the Congress party want to know Rajnath Singh ji,....Prime Minister you should first of all tell what are the allegations against the son, that you are denying," Maken told reporters here.
Referring to the Home Minister's statement that he would quit politics if any misconduct on his or his family's part is proved, he said the Congress party wants to know what the allegations are.
"With a lot of humility, the Congress party also wants to know from Rajnath Singh, that when it, the principal opposition party had not levelled any such allegations, then who has made these allegations," Maken said.
CPI leader D Raja said the clarification by the PMO and the Home Minister was "too late and too little" as reports have been appearing in national dailies for days together.
"Without any fire, there cannot be any smoke. It shows there are lot of things....There is internal strife....The politics is changing," he said. Raja said it is RSS which dictates what BJP should or should not do.
JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, however, came out in support of Rajnath Singh and said the Home Minister is spotless.
Similar views were expressed by NCP leader D P Tripathi.
"It is good that the PMO has clarified. I have known Rajnath Singh for so many years. He is not the kind of person who would even think of such a thing. Forget about doing it. Even his family members would never think of such a thing," said Tripathi.
Samajwadi Party (SP) also came in support of the Home Minister with party leader Gaurav Bhatia saying that "nobody has any doubts regarding the impeccable reputation Rajnath Singh has".
"But, at the same time, the clarification does not help, rather it complicates the whole issue. The clarification itself relies on rumours. So the greater question today that everyone is asking is that what were the rumours," he said.
"The people want to know about the rumours. Definitely we have seen that there has been centralisation of power in the BJP....," Bhatia said.
Meanwhile, BJP rubbished the media reports about "alleged misconduct" of Rajnath Singh's son.
"I believe the government has taken a step....The things have been put to rest absolutely....In the sense all the rumour mongers have been nailed and whoever is doing so must have got a befitting reply to this by now," party spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
He dismissed suggestions of financial irregularity on the issue.
"Where was the financial irregularity? When the Prime Minister's office has denied, when Rajnath Singh has denied so the kind of speculation that was going on, the kind of rumours that were going on, they were rumours....They were not true," he said.
The PMO had earlier said, "The reports are plain lies, motivated and constitute a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the image of the Government. Those indulging in such rumour-mongering are damaging the interest of the nation. These reports are strongly denied."
