The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday released a booklet carrying two 'investigative" articles by former Union minister Arun Shourie on United Progressive Alliance-Left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, calling for 'safeguarding' the highest constitutional office from 'taint.'
In an article in the booklet, distributed at a party meeting chaired by its chief Rajnath Singh at the Delhi BJP office, Shourie attacks the women's empowerment campaign in support of Pratibha as he alleges that a cooperative bank she had set up in her own name had been liquidated under RBI orders.
He writes that the liquidation came on the grounds that the bank's continuance would be prejudicial to the interests of depositors.
Titled Does This Tainted Person Deserve to Become the President of India? the booklet lists out relatives of Patil, who it alleges defaulted almost Rs 2.25 crore of bank loans together.
The list alleges that Patil's brother Dilipsingh N Patil and her nephews Kishor Dilipsingh Patil and Randhirsingh Dilipsingh Rajput were among those who have not repaid the loans.
'But who were the depositors? They were the poor women of the area -- who were eking out a living by selling vegetables, by collecting rags...,' the party says in an article titled 'Here is How to Empower Women?'.
Shourie's booklet also refers to allegations by a woman from Jalgaon that Patil had protected her brother in a murder case.
Charges against Pratibha mudslinging: PM