Law Minister Kapil Sibal today hit back at BJP leader Sushma Swaraj for her claim that a Union Cabinet minister is shielding Tarun Tejpal in the Tehelka sexual assault case, saying she should have the "courage" to name him instead of tangentially referring to him.
Hours after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha tweeted that a "Union Cabinet Minister who is the founder and patron of Tehelka is shielding Tarun Tejpal", Sibal said leaders who are "tangentially talking about me... There is someone in BJP who has said that I am shielding Tejpal. That person should have the courage to name me".
Swaraj did not named anyone in her tweet.
Sibal also accused BJP and RSS of vilifying his name and said Tejpal was not related to him and he does not hold shares in the entity.
The Opposition parties should not take recourse to "this kind of political discourse" ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
"What if I were to say, remember that image of the Leader of the Opposition with her head on shielding the Reddy brothers. But this is not the kind of political discourse we want in this country...," he told reporters here.
The Congress leader said Opposition parties should "not reduce the general election as if you have applied for a life-long patent for lies. Maybe the RSS has that life-long pattern, but at least the Leader of the Opposition should not apply for the licence of that patent."
He also referred to a message in circulation in the social media which said Tejpal is the son of Sibal's real sister and that the Union minister held 80 per cent shares in Tehelka.
"There is a message going around in the social media which says that Tarun Tejpal is the son of a Punjab Congress Committee member and an MLA. I don't know...
"Then it says his mother is the real sister of Kapil Sibal. Now, I am sorry, I did not expect the RSS and the BJP to stoop to this level. They can attack me politically, but they should not bring my family into it," he said.
Sibal said he has only one sister, Asha Nanda, who lives in Maharani Bagh here. "I have no other sister," he said.
Referring to claims that he held 80 per cent shares in Tehelka magazine till 2011, he said, "I don't even have a single share. No share has ever been alloted to me.
