NEW DELHI: It has been on the Delhi grapevine for a while now. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his son Pankaj Singh were called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and given a dressing down for allegedly accepting a bribe. And, were told, to place a cheque of the same amount (figure varies from several lakhs to crores of rupees) in the BJP party fund.

It all remained in the realm of whispers until Wednesday when Singh threatened to resign if one charge against him or his son was proven to be true, and the Prime Ministers Office came out with a statement rubbishing “media reports” about this supposed dressing down as “plain lies, motivated and constitute a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the image of the Government.”

In the media world where political denials of this sort are usually seen as a corroboration of ‘rumours’ this constituted high drama with reports suggesting that the Union Home Minister, supposedly miffed with the Prime Minister’s style of functioning for a while now, has lodged a formal complaint with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that BJP insiders and others were spreading these rumours against him and his son to the media. At this point Singh has reportedly complained against a specific cabinet colleague for planting rumours and leaking malicious information against him to the media.

Significantly reports of differences between Singh and PM Modi started when the latter intervened in the Home Minister’s choice of a personal secretary and stopped the appointment. News of this was ‘leaked’ to the media that went overboard speculating the Home Minister’s exact standing in the new government. Since then the rumours of differences have refused to go away with the Prime Ministers Office reportedly taking deep interest in the functioning of the Home Ministry, that has agitated the Minister considerably who sees it as direct interference in his domain. Singh was the former president of the BJP and an experienced politician as well. During the election campaign there were always unsubstantiated rumours that in case of a hung Parliament he would try and present himself as a consensus candidate for the Prime Ministership, that seemed to suggest a less than cordial relationship between him and Narendra Modi at the time.

However, the sudden outburst was unexpected even by scribes speculating about relations between top BJP leaders. Speaking to reporters hurriedly called to his office Rajnath Singh said , “the day the allegations against me and my family are proven to be correct, I will resign from politics."

"In the last 15-20 days, there have been continuous rumours in the air about me and my family. I thought rumours have no basis and these will end in some days. But I am seeing that these rumours are gaining momentum day-by-day. I want to assure the nation that the day allegations, even prima facie or even small, are proven against me or my family, I will quit politics and public life and sit at home," he told the scribes at his office in North Block.

Singh said that he had raised the issue with both the Prime Minister and BJP president Amit Shah and “they have expressed surprise over this and termed it as completely baseless.” Interestingly his son Pankaj Singh had sought a ticket to contest the UP bypolls from Noida, but was denied a ticket by the BJP that preferred to field a party worker Vimla Batham instead. This then gave rise to newspaper stories about the Home Minister’s decreasing influence in the government and the party.

The PMO has issued a strong statement however saying, “"This has reference to reports appearing in a section of the media over the past several weeks, mentioning the Prime Minister, and referring to the conduct of some Union Ministers, and alleged misconduct of the Home Minister's son.
The reports are plain lies, motivated and constitute a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the image of the Government. Those indulging in such rumour-mongering are damaging the interest of the nation.

These reports are strongly denied."

Latest News

THE CITIZEN BUREAU