{"id":31307,"date":"2017-11-07T20:07:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T14:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=31307"},"modified":"2017-11-07T20:09:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T14:39:25","slug":"former-samata-party-chief-jaya-jaitly-claims-sonia-shielded-tehelka-financiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/india-news\/former-samata-party-chief-jaya-jaitly-claims-sonia-shielded-tehelka-financiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Samata party chief Jaya Jaitly claims Sonia shielded Tehelka financiers"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Jaitly , a close aide of former defence minister George Fernandes makes a slew of allegations against Sonia Gandhi, other Congress leaders in her memoirs<\/em><\/p>\n Former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly has accused the Congress of having a hand in the Tehelka sting \u2018Operation West End\u2019, which led to then defence minister George Fernandes\u2019 resignation from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. In her autobiography, released\u00a0on Tuesday<\/span>, Jaitly \u2013 a close aide of Fernandes \u2013 has also alleged that when the UPA government came to power, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked then finance minister P Chidambram to ensure that Tehelka\u2019s alleged financiers are not treated in an \u201cunfair\u201d or \u201cunjust\u201d manner.<\/p>\n Jaitly has made these claims in her memoir, \u2018Life Among the Scorpions: Memoirs of an Indian Woman in Public Life\u2019. The book hints at the links between Sonia Gandhi and the Tehelka news portal, particularly in the Tehelka sting \u2018Operation West End\u2019.[\/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]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[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]The sting operation had created a huge scandal during the Vajpayee regime through its visuals that showed then BJP national president Bangaru Laxman, Jaya Jaitly and several other high ranking defence ministry officials and Army personnel accepting bribes from reporters posing as representatives of a (fictitious) London-based arms manufacturing company called West End. The sting operation had catapulted Tehelka magazine into international prominence while it effectively ended the political careers of George Fernandes, Bangaru Laxman and Jaya Jaitly. Tehelka was then run by veteran journalist Tarun Tejpal who is now facing trial in a rape case.<\/p>\n The memoirs of Jaitly revisit the Operation West End controversy, her alleged role (or innocence) in the bribery scandal, pin the blame on the Congress for covertly arranging the sting and in later years following the Congress-led UPA coalition coming to power, the alleged role of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in helping Tehelka financiers get away from a probe into allegations of their financial impropriety.<\/p>\n \u201cI included the letter in my book to show the truth behind accusations against me that I met with wrong people and assured them of my help in exchange for money. The wrong people were fake. Neither did I give them any assurances, nor asked and received any money. I have been going to court for nine years for the wrong allegations (sic),\u201d Jaitly told news agency ANI while responding to queries on the supposed revelations she has made against Sonia Gandhi.<\/p>\n Jaitly\u2019s accusations have given BJP leader and known Sonia-basher Subramanian Swamy another chance to hit out at the Congress president and seek investigations against her.<\/p>\n Swamy has urged the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to register a case against the Congress president on the basis of letters revealed by the former Samata Party president in her book.<\/p>\n \u201cCBI can register a case in the preventional corruption act because she(Sonia Gandhi) wrote the letter under the official title of the chairman of the National Advisory Council and ED can file a case of money laundering. Both Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh are equally culpable because they had assisted in the commission of the crime,\u201d Swamy told mediapersons.<\/p>\n Swamy claimed that he had released a similar letter two years ago, but nobody took it seriously at that time.<\/p>\n Jaitly referred to the ongoing nine-year-long corruption case against her, wherein the CBI filed a charge sheet alleging that she had accepted a bribe of Rs 2 lakh in 2001 (as shown in the Tehelka sting). She was alleged to have accepted the money in exchange for persuading former defence minister George Fernandes to award the contract of hand-held thermal imagers to the fictitious company West End International.<\/p>\n There are, in total, three letters enclosed in Jaitly\u2019s book \u2013 a letter by Tehelka directors and a letter by Tehelka Financiers \u2013 First Global addressed to Sonia Gandhi<\/strong><\/a> and the third letter from Sonia Gandhi to then finance minister P Chidambaram on behalf of Tehelka and its financiers. The book further hints that Sonia tried to convince Chidambaram to shield the Tehelka financiers.<\/p>\n \u201cI positioned the letter in such a way to show that a letter was written to someone who is even above the prime minister, who then wrote to the finance minister relating their problem, and immediately the problem was solved. This is the reality unlike the allegations against me which are fake,\u201d Jaitly said, and added, \u201cto save a person, who paid Tehelka to conduct a sting operation, there must be some connection.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter by Sonia was written merely months after the UPA formed the government, with Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n