Congress today ridiculed the NDA government over Union Minister Nitin Gadkari giving a "clean chit" to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the Lalit Modi issue, saying "there is a competition among ministers to give clean chit to each other".
"Ministers in this government are busy giving clean chits to each other. First they gave it to Gadkariji and now to Sushmaji. There is a competition among ministers to give clean chit to each other.
"Gadkari also needed clean chit earlier. Now he is giving clean chit to others. Tomorrow you will have Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhra Raje giving clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is for the people to see what is happening in the government," Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma said the ministers had taken an oath under the Constitution and they must uphold the law and respect their oath.
Amid the raging row over Modi's linkages with Raje, Gadkari had yesterday met her here and said the BJP as well as the Central government are strongly behind her as "accusations" against her have "no substance".
The senior BJP leader had insisted that Raje had done no wrong and said that such issues should not be brought into politics.
The row involving Swaraj and Raje has snowballed into a major political storm for the Narendra Modi government even though BJP has defended both the leaders.
BJP MP R K Singh today struck a discordant note on the issue saying "if anybody helps a 'bhagoda' (fugitive), it is wrong. This is wrong legally as well as morally. If anybody meets a fugitive, it is absolutely wrong. Whosoever has helped him, I think it is completely wrong".
