New delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday released a statement saying her finances had nothing to do with those of her husband Robert Vadra or his company Skylight Hospitality. The company is currently under Haryana government’s scanner for its land deals with realty major DLF.
According to news agency PTI, the statement came after The Economic Times asked Vadra if Priyanka had bought properties in Haryana using a portion of the money given to him by DLF.
The statement released from Priyanka’s office stated that she Gandhi had bought five acres of agricultural land in Faridabad’s Amipur village six years prior to the alleged land deal involving Skylight Hospitality. The statement added that the land was later resold to the original owner four years later in 2010 and the transaction had been made through cheque. “The source of funds for the aforesaid purchase was rental income of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from property inherited by her from her grandmother Indira Gandhi,” read the statement.
Please read for statement from Ms.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra pic.twitter.com/HeSypaFE1v
— Preeti Sahai (@sahai_preeti) April 27, 2017
“The source of funds for this or any other property acquired by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has no relationship whatsoever with Shri Robert Vadra’s finances and/or Skylight Hospitality and no relationship whatsoever with DLF,” it said. The statement also added that any land deal implications were “false, baseless and defamatory” involving “a deliberate, politically motivated and malicious campaign to besmirch and destroy her reputation”.
Priyanka’s reaction came hours after Punjab and Haryana High Court turned down a plea by former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the matter. Hooda was seeking a restraining order for The Economic Times to halt the purported publishing of the contents of Justice S N Dhingra report.
The commission, which had been set up in 2015 to investigate grant of commercial licences, had found “gross procedural irregularities in allotment of licences”.
The Indian Express had earlier reported in 2016 that the Dhingra Commission is said to have cited several instances of approvals and plans being changed to benefit builders.
“In many cases, real estate companies were allowed to get revised plans approved while in some cases, the policy was changed to grant benefit to the chosen companies. The files show a clear pattern of senior officers in the office of the previous Chief Minister (Bhupinder Singh Hooda) writing on file,” sources said.
PTI