Lucknow: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said the allegations by Union Minister Smriti Irani against the party vice president Rahul Gandhi, that he grabbed 65 acres of farmers' land in Amethi, are baseless.
"Smriti Irani toh galti sey bhi sach nahi bolti...All these allegations are totally baseless," Ramesh said to queries on the issue at a press conference here.
"...The land was auctioned as per the orders of the High Court and the highest bidder got it," Ramesh said, adding, "Irani is the one who goes to Gale University for six days and tweets that she got the degree from that university."
Irani during her visit to Amethi earlier this week had alleged that 65 acres of farmers' land, which was taken for setting up Samrat Bycycle Industry, was taken by Rajiv Gandhi Trust on less rate.
Attacking the Modi government, Ramesh said it is not "action government" but "auction government" which has auctioned not just coal, minerals but also the Prime Minister's coat.
"Even the Bihar package announced by the Prime Minister was done in a manner which was similar to auction," Ramesh said.
Asked to comment on his colleague Digvijay Singh's statement that Owaisi and his party (AIMIM) was being funded by BJP, Ramesh said BJP has the strategy of two faces in Bihar - the first one which is that of development and package under which PM goes to that state posing as the messiah of development and the second on the ground level their strategy is that of communal polarisation.
"...BJP will make all attempts to encourage polarisation on the ground level as (Nitin) Gadkari has already said that Bihar elections will be referendum to Modi government...I have been to many places in Bihar and saw that on the outer they are for development and package but on the ground they are for communal polarisation and they will take the help of whosoever supports them in this," Ramesh said.
To a question on the issue of political parties being brought under the RTI, Ramesh who had played an important role in framing the Act, replied in the negative but accepted that RTI has become a means of business and instrument to blackmail people.
"There is no need to weaken RTI as it is an important law and should be implemented properly so that it cannot be used in an unfair manner," he added.
