Patel also remarked that he is not as sharp as additional solicitor general and counsel for Rajput, Satya Pal Jain, who was cross-questioning him.
Congress veteran Ahmed Patel on Tuesday said he does not remember things owing to old age, to cover up for the inconsistencies in his submissions before the Gujarat High Court. He was deposing for the fourth and final day of cross examination in connection with an election petition filed by BJP's Balvantsinh Rajput against his Rajya Sabha victory. Patel also remarked that he is not as sharp as additional solicitor general and counsel for Rajput, Satya Pal Jain, who was cross-questioning him.
Jain on Tuesday submitted a CD before the high court and requested it to allow the CD to be played in court to demolish Patel's testimonies. The counsel for Patel, PS Champaneri, vehemently opposed the CD claiming that allowing the CD to be played before the court would be against the Evidence Act. However, the court rejected the objections and the CD was allowed to be played in court.
The CD contained video clips taken from news channels regarding Patel receiving Gujarat Congress MLAs at Ahmedabad airport after they returned from Bengaluru on August 7, 2017, to attend a press conference of Patel's on August 7 evening at a resort in Anand. There was also an interview of Patel given to a news channel on the morning of August 8.
Patel said the video clip of the airport does not show him with the MLAs and that he did not go to receive them. On being asked about the timing of the press conference at Anand, Patel said it was around evening. Following this, Jain remarked that while the Congress veteran had claimed that he reached Anand at around 9-9:30pm on Monday, he is also claiming that he did a press conference that very evening.
To most of the questions being asked by Jain regarding the day, time, and location of the videos being played, Patel answered with "I do not remember". This irked the judge, who remarked that the Congress leader should avoid denying the obvious. Thereafter, Patel said that he was 70 years old, does not remember things, and is not as sharp as Jain.
Meanwhile, Patel has also filed an application to remove the names of BJP's Amit Shah and Smriti Irani as respondents from the cross-petition filed by him against Balvantsinh Rajput. This apart, Patel has also sought a forensic probe to ascertain the worthiness of certain documents related to the case.
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