Rahul says he is targeted; BJP asks Congress to speak truth

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) As Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he was always the target of political rivals, the BJP said the Congress should not play the victim card in the AgustaWestland chopper deal but rather speak out the truth.

"I am always targeted; I am happy to be targeted," Gandhi told reporters while entering Parliament House here. The BJP said Gandhi was only trying to play the "victim card".

Gandhi's reaction came in the wake of BJP MP Kirit Somaiya alleging that Rahul's aide Kanishka Singh was linked to a middleman in the chopper deal.

Somaiya wrote a letter to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation to check Rahul Gandhi's links with a suspect allegedly involved in the Commonwealth Games scam and also in the VVIP chopper deal.

"This is not the time to play the victim card. He should rather answer questions. The Congress has been the mother of corruption. Our target is corruption ... neither the Congress nor Rahul Gandhi," BJP leader Shrikant Sharma told reporters here.

Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh asked the Congress to introspect and speak out the truth.

"It is time for them to introspect. I think it will be good for the country, if they come out with the truth on their own," Singh told media persons outside Parliament House, minutes after Rahul Gandhi's remarks.

In his letter, Somaiya said chopper deal middleman Guido Haschke's name was common in both the scams. Guido is allegedly linked to Christian Michel, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam.

Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala dubbed Somaiya's charge against Kanishka Singh as "completely preposterous and baseless".