Days after the Income Tax (IT) Department recovered a whopping ₹353 crore from the offices of Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai came to the rescue of the Congress MP.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel on Friday (16th December), Sardesai claimed that the scam-tainted politician had no chance of being a Parliamentarian. While citing a make-believe ‘source’, he alleged that the Congress wanted to deny Sahu a ticket to the Rajya Sabha in 2018.
The controversial ‘journalist’ claimed that the party relented after leaders, who have now defected to the BJP, lobbied for him. He also made reference to a ‘dead’ Congress leader who supposedly influenced the decision of the party to send Dhiraj Prasad Sahu to the Rajya Sabha.
At a time when the grand-old-party is under scanner over allegations of corruption, Rajdeep Sardesai was seen making a last-ditch effort to give a clean chit to the Congress’ high command.
“A senior Congress leader from Jharkhand claims Sahu was to be denied a ticket in 2018 but he reportedly managed to get his Rajya Sabha nomination at the very last moment with the help of a very key people in the Congress hierarchy in the National Capital,” he was heard saying.
“Among his key benefactors is someone who is no longer alive and held the purse strings of the Congress for a very long time. Interestingly some of the others who also helped him have now switched to the BJP,” Sardesai brazened out.
The controversy surrounding Dhiraj Prasad Sahu
Dhiraj Prasad Sahu is a Rajya Sabha MP for Congress from Jharkhand. His family has been associated with the Congress party since independence. He became RS MP in by-polls in 2009 for the first time.
In 2010, he was elected as RS MP for the second time; in 2018, he was re-elected for RS by Congress for the third time. He actively participates in parliamentary proceedings. Sahu was part of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In recent raids at Odisha-based Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd, where Dhiraj Prasad Sahu is a partner, the Income Tax Department recovered ₹353 cr of unaccounted cash. Congress Party has distanced itself from the controversy.