At 'Big Expose', Kirti Azad Does Not Name Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: BJP lawmaker Kirti Azad, who has been campaigning against alleged corruption in Delhi's cricket body DDCA, today addressed a press conference here but did not take the name of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, under whose charge as president of the organisation, he claimed there was financial bungling.

Demanding probes by the Enforcement Directorate and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence into the affairs of DDCA, he refused to join issues with Mr Jaitley, who had called him a "trojan horse" in the BJP, saying "one should refrain from making it a battle between Trojan horse and Achilles' heel".

Flanked by former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi and former cricketer Surinder Khanna at the media interaction that lasted less than two hours, the third time lawmaker from Darbhanga repeatedly said there was no personal fight in his principled campaign but played footage of a DDCA annual general meeting 2011 which purportedly showed Mr Azad questioning Mr Jaitley who was in the chair.

The footage also purportedly showed Mr Jaitley defending the DDCA office bearers who were being questioned by Mr Azad on alleged financial bungling.

The press conference came in the midst of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Mr Jaitley of being lax on corruption in DDCA when he headed it as president for 14 years from 1999.

Mr Jaitley had dismissed the allegations against him, saying this was an attempt by AAP and Mr Kejriwal to deflect attention from the case of corruption against his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, who was being questioned by the CBI in connection with an alleged scam.

Asked whether he has been gagged by party president Amit Shah, who had summoned him a couple of days ago and asked him not to hold the press conference, Mr Azad made light of the meeting saying, "I had a good breakfast with him. He offered me idlis. I said it was very good."