As Opposition attacked UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil over her role as head of a cooperative bank, CPI leader AB Bardhan has rubbished the charges levelled against her by the BJP as a 'fascistic trick.'
NEW DELHI: As Opposition attacked UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil over her role as head of a cooperative bank, CPI leader AB Bardhan has rubbished the charges levelled against her by the BJP as a 'fascistic trick.'
Describing Patil as a 'simple woman' who is facing 'lies manufactured by the BJP's dirty tricks factory,' the CPI General Secretary questioned the motive behind hurling these charges now and said he was 'quite sure that she will defend herself.'
Bardhan, who was the first Left leader to support her candidature when her name was proposed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, disassociated himself from the controversies surrounding her in an interview to a TV channel.
The veteran Communist was candid about questions on the closure of Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank headed by her and allegations that she had doled out loans to her brothers and her nephews.
"It so happens that so many banks fail, so many cooperatives fail. It only shows that she was not a very great executive director in all these economic affairs," he said referring to the closure of the cooperative bank headed by her.
Bardhan went on to add that he has had never 'justified her as a very great economic expert or as a great chief executive of a bank.'
Asked about allegations that Patil's relatives benefited by obtaining loans from the bank intended to empower poor women, he flatly refused the charges saying 'this is neither corruption nor is it nepotism.'
"You see in a cooperative bank if members of a family are also there what is so surprising about it? Bardhan asked and added that some of her relatives have paid back their loans.
He trained guns at the BJP and its senior leader LK Advani for leveling allegations against Patil saying 'it is only a fascistic trick to throw sufficient mud at a person, so that, some of it might stick."
On charges that she shielded her brother who is involved in a murder, he said 'you will have to prove that she did was for her brother and that she was responsible for what her brother did.'
"After all, she is not her brother's keeper. If her brother is guilty of any crimes he should be prosecuted. The law should take its own course."
"No such charges were leveled when she was an MLA, a minister, when she was Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, when she was Governor of Rajasthan," he remarked.
Bardhan, however, disagreed with her 1975 comments as Maharashtra Health Minister on forced sterilization for people with hereditary diseases and said he was 'not called upon to support her views and beliefs.'
"I don't agree with everything she says or does," he said but felt that she should not be clearing the air or apologising for her past comments 'because she is not going to follow those policies and she is not called upon to lay down the policy.'
"She will reply", he said referring to the allegations against her and asserted that she was not going to withdraw from the presidential race.
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