Congress accuses saffron party of having links to Udaipur murder accused, BJP denies

While Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera wondered as to why the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were silent on the party's links, the BJP Rajasthan minority wing president Sadiq Khan denied having any links with neither of the Udaipur murder accused.

New Delhi/Jaipur:The Congress on Saturday made a strong accusation against the BJP saying that the main accused in the Udaipur murder case had links with the BJP. Pawan Khera, the Congress media head asked whether the Centre had moved quickly to transfer the case to the NIA due to this reason.

BJP state minority wing president Sadiq Khan vehemently denied of having any links the arrested accused. "We have no links to either of the accused," he said while responding to the allegations levelled by the Congress. He reiterated the saffron party's stand of holding the Congress government in Rajasthan accountable for the murder.

Pawan Khera said that a sensational disclosure has been made by a media group that establishes the connection between the BJP and the party's alleged link with Riyaz Attari, the main accused in the Udaipur murder case. Khera cited pictures and posts linking Attari with BJP leaders -- Irshad Chainwala and Mohammad Tahir.

"It has also come to the fore in the same disclosure that the main accused Riyaz Attari often participated in the programmes of Rajasthan BJP leader and former minister Gulabchand Kataria," he alleged. "Not only this, but pictures of the main accused Riyaz Attari attending the meetings of the BJP's Rajasthan minority unit are also in front of the world," Khera claimed.

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya however dismissed the claim as "fake news". "I am not surprised that you are peddling #FakeNews. The Udaipur murderers WERN'T members of the BJP. Their attempt to infiltrate was like the LTTE assassin's attempt to enter the Congress to kill Rajiv Gandhi," he tweeted. "Congress should stop fooling around with terror and national security," Malviya said.

It was also questioned why the BJP was so late in announcing an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). "The government ordered an NIA investigation only when it created a buzz," he said.

Kanhaiya Lal was killed Tuesday afternoon by two cleaver-wielding men, who posted a grisly video of the crime online claiming responsibility for the murder. The two accused, Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

In a reference to tainted J&K cop Devendra Singh, Pawan Khera asked, "Where is Devender Singh, who was arrested for supporting and aiding militants?" Khera also said that there are questions on the Pulwama case as well since it remains a mystery how such a huge quantity of RDX escaped the eyes of the security agencies.

"Why is PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah silent on this? They should at least give an answer to these questions," he said. Pawan Khera also accused the BJP of using the tactics of polarization and breaking the country on communal grounds for electoral gains.