Allegations of defence purchases by Swaraj India leaders must be investigated: JD (U)

New Delhi [India], Oct. 21 (ANI): The Janata Dal (United) on Friday said the allegations made by Swaraj India leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan with regard to defence purchases must be investigated and wondered whether Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi is being specially targeted in this matter. "The allegations made with regard to defence purchases by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav need to be investigated. The collateral reference to Varun Gandhi I think has been denied vociferously by the MP himself and the accused Abhishek Verma. The question also needs to be asked whether Varun Gandhi is being specially targeted," JD (U) leader Pawan Verma told ANI. Verma said that Gandhi has been completely sidelined by his parent party in Uttar Pradesh. "Who is behind these allegations? What credibility do they have? These are questions Varun Gandhi should be answering. I think that the principle thirst of Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan's conference was on defence deals. As Yadav seem to be emphasizing repeatedly.it was not on any sex scandal. But how has that become the prime story we should all think about it," he added. Yadav earlier today hit out at the BJP for not taking action against Gandhi for allegedly leaking sensitive information about defence deals, asserting that the saffron party is not taking any action in the matter to safe guard its own interest. Yadav added that the BJP has also not been able to take action in the case because if it had taken cognisance of the wrong doings on the issue then it would have not been able to strike the Rafale deal with the company. Meanwhile, Gandhi has threatened to file a criminal defamation suit against Bhushan and a U.S.-based lawyer C. Edmonds Allen, who claimed that the BJP MP was honey-trapped by arms dealer Abhishek Verma. Gandhi has also rejected all charges levelled against him as "totally ridiculous" and said that he would quit politics "even if one percent of all this" was true. "The entire information presented does not contain an iota of proof that either I had access or shared any communication regarding sensitive information to Verma," he added. According to reports, Allen has alleged that his former business partner and controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma honey-trapped Gandhi and some senior military officers with foreign prostitutes to extract sensitive information about defence deals. Allen has alleged that Gandhi, as member of the parliamentary defence committee, had access to information that shared with Verma to "compromise national security". (ANI)