In a sensational tit-for-tat game, the BJP tonightalleged that outgoing Chhattisgarh Chief Minister offered bribes to its MLAs toprevent formation of the party government tomorrow.
Acting quickly on reports that Jogi used Sonia Gandhi'sname in the episode, the Congress suspended him from the party and barred himfrom attending the working committee meeting convened in New Delhi tomorrow todiscuss the rout in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Alleging that the conspiracy was enacted under the direction of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley played two audio tapes at a pressconference in Raipur.
The tapes purportedly contained a conversation betweenAjit Jogi and Congress MP P.R. Kunte, who recently defected from the BJP, withformer BJP MLA Virendra Pandey and Baliram Kashyap, MLA, to make the latter theChief Minister on the basis of support from rebel BJP MLAs supported by theCongress from outside.
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Jaitley displayed a bag containing wads of Rs 500currency notes totalling Rs 20-25 lakhs as the first installment of bribe toeffect a split in the BJP legislature party.
Jaitley also showed a letter purportedly written byJogi addressed to the Governor expressing support to the formation of agoverment headed by Kashyap, a tribal MLA.
Jaitley demanded the arrest of the conspirators and a CBI probe into the entireepisode.
He said a copy of the tapes had been given to theGovernor and original tapes and the documents would be handed over to the policefor investigation because they had no faith in the administration which had afew more hours before the BJP government takes over tomorrow.
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Taking serious note of the alleged use of Sonia's namein the tapes, the Congress placed Jogi under suspension and barred him fromattending the CWC meet in New Delhi pending an inquiry into the episode.
Jogi at his press conference past midnight said thevoice in the tape was "fully concocted and forged" and it was not his.
However, he admitted he had given a letter to Pandey tobe given to the Governor supporting formation of a government headed by a tribalChief Minister.
Asked whether it was not illegal to write to theGovernor even before his election as legislature party leader, Jogi said asChief Minister, he was still its leader.
Maintaining the Dilip Singh Judeo tape operation was a trap, Jaitley said Jogiand Kunte were both public servants and a case of corruption could be made outagainst them for effecting defection in a political party like the JMM caseduring Prime Ministership of Narasimha Rao.
He said both Kashyap and Pandey were main witnesses andevidences like the tape, cash and documents were genuine.
Tomorrow after the swearing in of the new government,it would formally seek a CBI inquiry.
The money would be deposited with the police, Jaitleysaid.
Jaitley said Jogi's son Amit was involved in theepisode as could be made out from the conversation.
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Reacting to the BJP allegation, Congress general secretaryAmbika Soni condemned the use of Sonia's name and said nobody was authorised toinvoke her name.
She said given the seriousness of the issue, the partywould demand a CBI inquiry, pending which Jogi has been suspended.
Soni accused the BJP of adopting double standards onthe tape issue saying the Centre did nothing when former Union Minister Judeowas allegedly caught accepting money but demanded a CBI probe into the Jogiissue.
"What action did the Centre take in the Judeo casewhen the whole world saw money exchanging hands. But here it was only a case ofaudio tapes without any proof."
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Jogi said it was a BJP conspiracy to divert attention from the Judeo episode.
He said he did not have any discussion on offeringbribes or invoking Sonia's name. He did meet Pandey who came to his housewanting a letter from him seeking support for a tribal Chief Minister.
Jogi said he was not involved in any dealing involvingcash.
Jogi said he was sure that Kunte would also not getinvolved in any such activity.
His son, Jogi said, was away in some nearby place.
PTI
