Kushabhau Thakre

New Delhi, April 6: The Congress today demanded action against L.K. Advani and Venkaiah Naidu after the Supreme Court quashed the land allotment to the Kushabhau Thakre Trust, of which the duo were trustees.

The Congress said they should be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the call coming at a time the party has been at the receiving end of graft allegations.

Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan said: “The hypocrisy of the BJP has been exposed. Advani and the BJP must apologise to the nation for this fraud. We also ask the Madhya Pradesh chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chauhan) to explain to the nation the sequence of events that led to the allotment of land worth over Rs 60 crore to the trust. An FIR should also be lodged against the trustees.”

Natarajan said the land was reserved for the trust even before it came into being and that showed the intention of the then BJP government of Madhya Pradesh led by Uma Bharti of defrauding the state exchequer. The allotment was made for Rs 25 lakh.

She said it is shameful that the top BJP leadership was involved in a criminal conspiracy to loot the state. She alleged the land use was changed to favour the trust.

Tiwari swipe

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari today clarified that he had attacked the BJP, not the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, over the 2G scam investigation.

“I respect Murli Manohar Joshi personally. It’s not an issue concerning PAC, rather it is linked with the BJP’s opportunistic politics,” Tiwari said.

Joshi had yesterday said he would send a notice to Tiwari over his remarks.