New Delhi: In a blistering attack on Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi over the Special Investigating Team (SIT) affidavit that claims activist Teesta Setalvad and others plotted to destabilise the Gujarat government after the 2002 riots, BJP on Saturday alleged she was the “architect of the entire conspiracy” and that late Ahmed Patel was her “puppet” in this endeavour, news agency ANI reported.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “The affidavit has brought the truth out that who were the ones who were driving these conspiracies – Ahmed Patel. Ahmed Patel is just a name, the driving force was his boss Sonia Gandhi. Through her Chief Political Advisor Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi attempted to malign Gujarat’s image. Through him, she attempted to insult Narendra Modi and she was the architect of this entire conspiracy.”
Lashing out at social activist Teesta Setalvad, whose name was mentioned in the Gujarat Police’s affidavit claiming she had numerous meetings with Patel, where they received Rs 5 lakh for the first time and Rs 25 lakhs after two days, Patra said all her actions had political objectives.
“The first political objective of Teesta Setalvad was to destabilize the publicly elected Narendra Modi government in Gujarat. The second objective was to frame innocent people including the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The affidavit says that this conspiracy was to malign the image of Gujarat,” ANI quoted Patra as saying.
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“What Teesta Setalvad was doing, Sonia Gandhi was impressed with it and awarded her with Padma Shree in 2007. Teesta was a member of the national advisory council of Sonia Gandhi,” the BJP leader added.
Patra further said that they do not want answers from Jairam Ramesh, who issued a statement refuting the SIT allegations and slamming the Centre for “mischievous” charges against late Ahmed Patel.
“How should the BJP government be dismissed in Gujarat, how to destabilize it, how to play politics with Gujarat riots, there is only one person behind all this, Sonia Gandhi. Today we are wanting answers from none other than Sonia Gandhi, not Jairam Ramesh. With a clear conscience, we beseech Sonia Gandhi to hold a press conference and address the nation as to why she was conspiring against Narendra Modi,” Patra added.