BJP, Gurumurthy again back Gadkari

New Delhi : Seeking to scotch speculations about BJP chief Nitin Gadkari not getting a clean chit from the party over financial dealings of a company he is linked to, RSS acolyte and financial analyst S. Gurumurthy and the BJP Wednesday reiterated that there was no moral or legal wrongdoing by him.

Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, wrote a letter to Gadkari that he wished to formally place on record his views – earlier expressed at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) core committee meeting here Nov 6 – which had led the party to give a virtual clean chit to its beleagured chief.

Gadkari is facing a probe over allegations about financial transactions of companies that invested in the Purti Group he heads.

Gurumurthy said he found no wrongdoing by Gadkari in documents related to Purti and accused the media of giving political colour to the issue following some of his tweets.

“At the meeting of the core committee, on my investigation of the Purti documents, I had clearly said that you had not done any wrongdoing morally or legally,” Gurumurthy wrote in the letter released by the BJP Wednesday.

“I reiterate that on my investigation, I have found and written in my columns in the New Indian Express that there is no wrongdoing by you morally or legally in the Purti matter,” the letter added.

Gurumurthy, who is also a corporate advisor and columnist, said he had “professionally examined the Purti papers” and expressed his professional views.

“But I saw sections of media giving political colour to my professional views,” he said.

Calling upon Gadkari to bring his letter to the attention of BJP core committee members who were present when he briefed them Nov 6, Gurmurthy said the letter might also be released to the media.

The letter follows Gurumurthy’s tweets Tuesday which led sections of media to say that he had not given a clean chit to Gadkari on the Purti issue.

Following the news reports, Gurumurthy clarified Tuesday in a tweet that he had given “a clear chit to Gadkari on Purti affairs.”

He also said he had deleted the tweets that sections of media was misunderstanding.”

“I have deleted only the tweets they (media) are misinterpreting, not all,” he had said.

After the BJP core group met Nov 6, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “Shri Gadkari has no direct or indirect interest in the 18 investment companies which have invested in the Purti Group.”

“S. Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant and financial analyst, who has examined these documents and facts made a presentation to the party leaders. The meeting accepted the presentation of Shri Gurumurthy that there was no legal or moral wrongdoing by Shri Nitin Gadkari,” Prasad added.

Prasad, who was answering queries from mediapersons Wednesday, said there was “nothing wrong” with the investment pattern in the Purti Group of companies.

“There is nothing wrong in the investment pattern in the Purti Group of companies. Gurumurthy, a well-known chartered accountant and financial analyst, yesterday (Tuesday) reiterated it through a tweet,” Prasad said.

“As far as Nitin Gadkari is concerned, he is indeed a social entrepreneur. Farmers in Vidharbha had been committing suicides earlier. Gadkari’s factories have been benefiting the farmers in the Vidarbha region,” Prasad said.

Gadkari has enjoyed the backing of the RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP.

The rift in the Sangh Parivar over allegations against Gadkari had again come to the fore Monday after RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya indicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was behind Gadkari’s present troubles within the party.

Both the RSS and the BJP had swiftly denied any linkage. Party MP Ram Jethmalani had targeted Gadkari over the allegations related to Purti Group, saying that he should resign and not seek a second term as party president.

Jethmalani’s son Mahesh Jethmalani had quit the party’s national executive over the issue.