New Delhi, Oct 24 (PTI): Senior BJP leader L K Advani today backed party chief Nitin Gadkari saying he has come "clean" by asking for a probe on charges against him and said the party should not claim immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations.
"Nitinji has come clean by asking for an inquiry by the Department of Company Affairs," Advani said in a statement here on certain media allegations questioning investments in his family business.
He said the allegations against Gadkari were about "standards of business and not misuse of power or corruption" "I am of the view that the BJP should be different and should not claim immunity on either scale or nature of the allegations," he said.
Accusing the Government of trying to neutralise the "unprecedented" corruption charges against it by targeting Gadkari, Advani hoped there will be an impartial probe into the matter.
"I hope that the government inquiry will be fair and the government will not use its political hostility to the BJP to colour the inquiry," he said.
Advani lashed out at the UPA for trying to work a strategy to paint the entire political class with the same brush to minimise and escape its "unpardonable sins". He said the allegations against opposition leaders like Gadkari was an "off-shoot" of this.
Terming Gadkari's response to the government probe into his business investments as "fair and proper", Advani said, "This shows the difference in the BJP's attitude." He said one of the allegations of wrongdoing against Gadkari related to land issue which has been proved wrong according to media reports themselves.
He also congratulated Gadkari for "voluntarily" asking for a probe into the allegations of dubious funding in his companies. Advani lamented that the "monumental" corruption by the ruling UPA has "made the political class hang its head in shame".