Times when Opposition VP candidate Margaret Alva exposed Congress and Gandhi's family!

On Sunday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar announced Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Margaret Alva is the opposition's joint candidate for the August 6 vice presidential election. She has worked closely worked under Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Narasimha Rao. Her nomination came as a bit of shock as Margaret Alva was a huge critic of Gandhis. She has targeted the party and Gandhian family in interviews.

 

 

"The Opposition's candidate for Vice-President, Margaret Alva levelled a range of charges from corruption to conspiracy against Congress party and its president Sonia Gandhi. Has the Opposition by supporting her endorse her allegations to declare Congress corrupt?" BJP Nishikant Dubey asked in a tweet.

 

 

 

Here are few of them-

 

 

In a huge embarrassment for Congress and Gandhi family, Margaret Alva made shocking revelations about the Gandhi family’s links with the VVIP chopper deal middleman Christian Michel. The latter is currently in jail for offering bribes to Indian govt for signing the VVIP chopper deal.

 

 

It is pertinent to mention that Christian Michel is an alleged middleman in the controversial Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. In her book, 'Courage and Commitment – An Autobiography', Margaret Alva talks about Congress' connections with Michel's father Wolfgang.

 

 

According to the Margaret Alva's autobiography, the case dates back to 1980s while Sanjay Gandhi was alive. It was known as the tank scam where Sanjay Gandhi and CPN Singh, minister of defence production had allegedly convinced to sell second hand Indian army tanks to South Africa. CPN Singh, who was a known key aide and confidante of Sanjay Gandhi, was removed from his position because of Alva's allegations then. Alva in her autobiography has alleged that she was being targeted by CPN Singh as she was about to blow the lid off his connections with Michel.

 

 

At that time, Congress politician Randeep Surjewala had dubbed the revelations and said Margaret Alva's used the book and to market her book, wondering why enlightenment dawned on her after decades of long political career.

 

 

A video went viral of an interview taken by Karan Thapar in July 2016. Margaret Alva had accused Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi of insulting former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

 

“The gun carriage bearing Narasimha’s body was not allowed to enter the AICC headquarters. Instead, it was parked on the pavement outside the gates, with chairs for party leaders outside the gate,” he read out an excerpt from Margaret Alva’s book titled ‘Courage & Commitment: An Autobiography.’

 

 

The Vice-Presidential nominee had clarified, “Whatever the differences, he had been the Prime Minister, Congress President, Chief Minister and party’s General Secretary. He had done a wonderful job, except for the Babri Masjid and the mess up with it.”

 

"When a man is dead, you don’t treat him that way. And I was hurt. I have always regretted not walking away on that occasion but I did not want to insult his body by walking away,” she informed. “This is not the way to treat a dead leader,” she said.

 

 

One should remember that Margaret Alva's selection as the VP candidate comes ahead the 2023 Karnataka elections and signals the Opposition's urge to field a candidate described by AICC general secretary communication Jairam Ramesh as "representative of a diverse country".

 

However, Alva had publicly alleged the "sale of Congress tickets in Karnataka" in 2008 when her son Nivedith's ticket was denied a ticket by the then party in charge of the state. She had then openly questioned the denial of ticket to her son. After she had gone on to allege sale of tickets in the Karnataka elections, she attributed Congress’ loss to it, for which she was removed as AICC general secretary. This was price she had to pay for exposing Congress's illicit activities and party’s compromises from democratic values.