Gadkari blames government for tarnishing image

Mumbai: As the Income Tax (IT) department began conducting on-field surveys of various shell companies linked to Purti Group promoted by him, senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday came down heavily on the federal UPA government for allegedly using the IT department to “tarnish” his image, ahead of his re-election as the party’s national president.

A day before his likely return to the BJP’s top post for a second consecutive term, Gadkari’s problems compounded as the IT department carried out on-field surveys -- at nine places in Mumbai -- of shell companies that had invested in the Purti group promoted by him.

On his part, Gadkari has claimed that he resigned as its chairman of the Purti group in 2010 and had nothing to do with the shell companies that had invested in the group which he headed earlier.

The “on-field” surveys conducted by the IT department are a part of the investigations launched in the wake of media reports published in October last year that revealed that several of those investor firms carried the addresses were of Mumbai tenements where no offices existed.

The IT department reportedly sent an interim inquiry report to the Central Board of Direct Taxes some weeks ago. The report dwelt upon the investments made by various firms in the Gadkari-promoted Purti Group.

Upset with Income Tax department’s action against the shell companies linked to the Purti Group, Gadlkari on Tuesday condemned as “calculated, mischievous and politically motivated” the IT department’s attempts to drag his name into its surveys of various companies in Mumbai.

In a statement issued through the New Delhi-based BJP headquarters, Gadkari described the highly questionable move by the IT department as a command performance at the behest of its political masters sitting in the national capital, who have hatched a political conspiracy to tarnish his image.

Gadkari charged that coming as it did on the eve of his re-election as BJP President for a second term, the IT department’s action smacked of the ruling UPA’s nefarious designs to create confusion in the BJP ranks.

The BJP chief said he himself had volunteered an inquiry into all the allegations of wrong doing by him and his family in the related matters and was fully cooperating with the concerned departments since he has nothing to hide and his track record in public life was unblemished.

Gadkari said he had always stood for probity in public life and would never hesitate to quit his post if found guilty on any charge or charges by a court of law.

Gadkari warned the UPA government against indulging in political vendetta against its opponents and said that such cheap gimmicks would not be able to deter him from fulfilling his commitment to serving the nation.

Gadkari’s statement came a day after his Charted Accountant Ravi Chincholkar appeared on his behalf before the Nagpur-based office of Geeta Ravichandran, joint director (investigation) of IT department, and sought an adjournment of the hearing on the ground that the BJP chief was away in Lucknow and that he needed more time to pr0duce some relevant documents before the department.

At the meeting, Chincholkar requested the IT officials that Gadkari be given time till February 1, to appear before the department for the investigations,

On Monday, Gadkari could not appear before the IT officials based in Nagpur, as he was away in Lucknow attending a function marking the merger of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh’s Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) with the BJP.