DDCA row: Kirti Azad falls shy of taking Arun Jaitley's name

DDCA row

New Delhi: BJP MP Kirti Azad, who has been campaigning against alleged corruption in Delhi's cricket body, addressed a press conference on the matter yesterday, but did not take the name of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was president of Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) when the alleged financial bunglings took place.

BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad with veteran cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi during a press conference regarding DDCA in New Delhi yesterday. Pic/PTI

Demanding an ED and DRI probe into the DDCA affairs, Azad refused to link the issue with Jaitley, who had called him a ‘trojan horse' in the BJP, saying ‘one should refrain from making it a battle between a Trojan horse and Achille's heel'.

Flanked by former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi and former cricketer Surinder Khanna at the media interaction that lasted less than two hours, the three-time MP from Darbhanga repeatedly said there was no personal fight in his principled campaign, but played footage from a CD of the DDCA AGM of 2011-12, which showed Azad questioning Jaitley who was in the chair.

The footage also shows Jaitley defending office-bearers questioned by Azad. The press conference came in the midst of AAP leaders and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Jaitley of being lax on corruption in DDCA when he headed it as president for 14 years from 1999 to 2013.