Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's presidential campaign manager Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday showed to the media various documents including the character certificate issued by the then police superintendent of Sikar who was very impressed with the performance of Shekhawat as sub-inspector.
The relieving certificate was given on October 23, 1948, after six years of distinguished service.
"He had no bribery charge against him whatsoever. The media has been fed with all sorts of stories about Shekhawatji's public image and an effort has been made to tarnish it. The other thing being said about him is about the cases he withdrew that under which he was booked during the emergency. Yes, this is true. A lot of things were undone.
"First, censorship on media was removed. PTI and UNI were made separate news agencies as they existed before. Even the Baroda Dynamite case was withdrawn. It was challenged but the Supreme Court said that under changed circumstances it was proper to withdraw the cases when the Janata Party government came to power after the 1977 elections," she said.
She denied that the National Democratic Alliance government had anything to do with the public interest litigation filed in the Supreme Court against UPA candidate Pratibha Patil by Manohar Lal Sharma that was dismissed by the apex court on Tuesday.
"This has nothing to do with us. Neither did we file the case nor does the man belong to Bharatiya Janata Party," she said.
