Allegation against Vajpayee baseless : BJP

New Delhi: BJP on Thursday rejected allegations of involvement of a close associate of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in oil sales with Saddam Hussein and said BJP is ready for any probe in this regard.

“There is no mention of such kind in the Volcker report which only mentions the name of Natwar Singh and Congress party,” BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said here. He said such allegations by Congress functionary Romesh Bhandari were being leveled to enable the party “hide its corruption” and divert the attention from Volcker and Mitrokhin revelations.

Jaitley said that if the government wants to expand the scope of inquiry by the Pathak Committee to probe the allegation, the party would have no objection.  

BJP Parliamentary party spokesman V.K. Malhothra said that there is no mention about Vajpayee’s association in the Volcker report and the government may undertake any inquiry into the allegations.