His name still holds weight: Late Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s daughter rebuffs Gujarat SIT’s charges

New Delhi: The Congress and late party leader Ahmed Patel’s daughter Mumtaz on Saturday (July 16) hit out at the Centre over the charges levelled by Gujarat police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots case against her father. On Friday, the SIT had submitted an affidavit in a sessions court in Ahmedabad claiming that arrested activist Teesta Setalvad was part of a "larger conspiracy" executed at Ahmed Patel’s behest with the political objective of "dismissal or destabilisation of the elected government in Gujarat by hook or by crook", PTI reported. 

Reacting sharply to the allegations, the late Congress leader’s daughter Mumtaz Patel said her father's name still holds weight to be used for "political conspiracies" to malign the Opposition ahead of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections this year.

"So their campaign for Gujarat election has begun by dragging Ahmed Patel's name in conspiracy theories. They did it before election when he was alive & are still doing it when he is no more," she wrote in a tweet. 

"Why during UPA years @TeestaSetalvad was not rewarded & made Rajya Sabha member and why the Centre uptil 2020 did not prosecute my father for hatching such a big conspiracy?" she asked in another tweet, which was retweeted by her brother Faisal Patel from his verified Twitter handle.

Congress also launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi-led government saying the allegations were the PM’s "systematic strategy to absolve himself of any responsibility for the communal carnage" of 2002. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party "categorically refutes the mischievous charges manufactured" against Ahmed Patel.

"This is part of the prime minister's systematic strategy to absolve himself of any responsibility for the communal carnage unleashed when he was chief minister of Gujarat in 2002," Ramesh said in a statement. 

BJP targets Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over Gujarat SIT’s affidavit

The BJP on Saturday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of being the "driving force" behind the "conspiracy" to implicate then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots case. Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed that the late Ahmed Patel, who was Sonia Gandhi's political adviser, was only a medium through which she acted to destabilise the Modi-led Gujarat government. He also demanded Gandhi to address a press conference on the charges. he demanded. "The affidavit has brought the truth out that who were the ones who were driving these conspiracies - Ahmed Patel. Ahmed Patel is just a name, the driving force was his boss Sonia Gandhi. Through her Chief Political Advisor Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi attempted to malign Gujarat`s image. Through him, she attempted to insult Narendra Modi and she was the architect of this entire conspiracy," Patra was quoted as saying by ANI. 

(With agency inputs)