The Congress claimed on Saturday that the Gujarat Police's "mischievous" and "manufactured" claims against its late leader Ahmed Patel were part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "systematic effort" to clear himself of any blame for the 2002 communal bloodbath, news agency PTI reported.
The Congress' reaction came after the Gujarat Police denied activist Teesta Setalvad's bail application on Friday. The Special Investigation Team stated in an affidavit filed before the sessions court that she was part of a "bigger plot" carried out at the request of late Congress leader Patel to have the BJP administration in the state removed following the 2002 riots.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh stated in a statement that the party "categorically refutes the mischievous charges manufactured" against the late Ahmed Patel.
"This is part of the Prime Minister's systematic strategy to absolve himself of any responsibility for the communal carnage unleashed when he was chief minister of Gujarat in 2002," he was quoted by PTI in its report.
"It was his (Modi's) unwillingness and incapacity to control this carnage that had led the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to remind the chief minister of his 'raj dharma'." The prime minister's "political vendetta machine" clearly does not even spare the departed who were his political adversaries," the Congress general secretary said.
"This SIT is dancing to the tune of its political master and will sit wherever it is told to. We know how an earlier SIT chief was rewarded with a diplomatic assignment after he had given a 'clean chit' to the chief minister," Ramesh said.
He said that for years, the Modi-Shah duo's techniques have included passing judgement through the press throughout an ongoing legal process, using "puppet investigative organisations that trumpet outrageous claims as assumed conclusions."
"This is nothing but another example of the same with the added object of vilifying a deceased person since he is unable and unavailable to refute such brazen lies," Ramesh said.
Sonia Gandhi Behind Plot To Frame Narendra Modi In Gujarat Riots: BJP
The BJP claimed on Saturday that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was the "driving force" behind the "plot" to incriminate then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the state's 2002 riots case.
During a news conference, party spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the late Ahmed Patel, Mrs Gandhi's political adviser and a major Congress politician, was just a conduit through which she acted to destabilize the BJP government in the state and harm Prime Minister Modi's political career.
He urged that Sonia Gandhi hold a news conference on the subject.
(With Inputs From PTI)