New Delhi, Dec. 24: The Congress today tried to turn the tables on the BJP over the Niira Radia affair and demanded the resignation of its general secretary and Bangalore (North) MP Ananth Kumar for his alleged links with the corporate lobbyist.

The Congress threw 10 questions at the BJP that were based on an interview with Radia’s former business partner Rao Dheeraj Singh.

Dheeraj Singh, who is from Haryana, is a relative of the late Rao Birendra Singh who was a Haryana chief minister from the Congress.

In an interview to a TV news channel on Thursday, Dheeraj Singh — who was silent when the Radia tapes made headlines — alleged that the business plans, pencilled by him and Radia, got a fillip when the NDA came to power and Kumar was appointed as the civil aviation minister. He claimed in the interview that Radia had a “good relationship” with Kumar and that “he managed the whole thing for us”.

The “whole thing” allegedly related to the sale of helicopters to various buyers, including the “Karnataka and Maharashtra governments”. He claimed that when a Eurocopter deal was negotiated with the Maharashtra government, Singh and Radia travelled to meet a “senior leader” in Nagpur who, he added, “facilitated it”. The allusion was to the present BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

Among Dheeraj Singh’s other “revelations” were that the BJP government had allegedly allotted a “huge piece of land” to Radia’s trust in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj in 2002 for which, he said. L.K. Advani had laid the foundation stone.

He also charged Radia with handling hawala transactions and money laundering and said a “portion of it had to go to a BJP politician” although he did not name him. Dheeraj Singh claimed that cabinet papers were “leaked” to Radia.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi questioned if the BJP would sack Kumar from his party post. “Will the BJP hold anti-corruption rallies at his residence in Bangalore? Will the BJP now want us to wait for an inquiry and proof? Will the BJP disrupt Parliament on this issue? Why were the cabinet papers leaked?” he asked.

The BJP promptly reacted, saying that Kumar would begin legal action against Singh and the channel that telecast the interview.

In a late evening press briefing, Arun Jaitley, Rajya Sabha Opposition leader, denied Dheeraj Singh’s charges. He maintained the BJP government had not given away land to Radia and the only time Advani visited Vasant Kunj in 2002 was to pay his respects to the Pejawar Swami at his “math”.

The Swami is a member of the VHP-sponsored Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas.

Jaitley added that the land for the “math” was allotted by the United Front government when H.D. Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister.