Opposition parties today sought a probe into claims in a media report that a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son saw a huge rise in its turnover after his party came to power in 2014.
The charge was rejected by the BJP and Shah's son, Jay Amit Shah, who termed the story "false, derogatory and defamatory".
Training their guns at the Modi government by citing the news story's content, the Congress, the Left and the AAP demanded an investigation, with Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleging that it was a case of "crony capitalism".
CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury claimed that it is the latest in a series of cases of corruption under the Modi government.
"Today, we ask a question to the Prime Minister, the pradhan sevak ... Now, what do you have to say about crony capitalism? Will you give direction to the CBI to probe the matter? Will you ask ED to arrest these people," Sibal asked at a press conference here.
The demand from the opposition parties came after a media report, citing filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), said that the turnover of Jay Amit Shah-owned Temple Enterprise zoomed by around 16,000 times during 2015-16 at around Rs 80 crore over the previous year.
Sibal, citing the filing with RoC, also alleged that a firm Kusum Finserve LLP, in which Jay Amit Shah had 60 per cent stake, had also got a contract in Madhya Pradesh in wind power sector despite the company being engaged in stock trading.
Putting up a strong defence against opposition parties attack, Union minister Piyush Goyal dismissed their charge and released a statement by Jay Amit Shah in which he said that he will sue the author, editor and owner of the news website which published the story, for Rs 100 crore.
"The article makes false, derogatory and defamatory imputation against me by creating in the minds of right- thinking people an impression that my business owes its 'success' to my father Shri Amitbhai Shah's political position ... My businesses are fully legitimate and conducted in a lawful manner on commercial lines, which is reflected in my tax records, and are through banking transactions," Shah's son said in the statement.
Sibal also alleged that a company owned by Jay Amit Shah got a loan of Rs 25 crore from a cooperative bank without sufficient collateral security, besides a loan of Rs 10.35 crore from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), a public sector firm under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, which is under Goyal.
To a query whether there was any wrongdoing, Sibal said, "I am talking about crony capitalism. Offence will come to light when we get to know why the loan was sanctioned. We know who the CBI and ED will investigate and who the agencies will not investigate. Issue is whether the prime minister is honest enough to say that investigate son of Amit Shah."
Attacking Modi, Yechury tweeted, "Latest in the series of corruption cases under Modi. Birla-Sahara Dairy, GSPCL, Vyapam, Lalit Modi, rice and mining scams. Why is PM silent?"
"L K Advani had resigned after the Jain Hawala diary episode while its then party president Bangaru Laxman had quit after a corruption expose," Yechury said, asking will it happen now under the Modi government.
CPI leader D Raja demanded a "high level SIT probe monitored by the court".
The Aam Aadmi Party also demanded a probe into allegations and said a criminal probe should be started.
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