New controversy erupts over Vemula

The BJP was left red-faced on Wednesday when Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika made it clear that the Opposition parties “haven’t used me for political gains”, soon after Union minister Piyush Goyal accused the Opposition, and particularly Congress president Rahul Gandhi, of “exploiting” her grief with the “false promise to assure a house”.

He alleged that the Indian Union Muslim League had promised Ms Vemula `20 lakh to speak against the BJP.

“No one has given me money and asked me to speak at any rally. Why do I need money to talk against the murderers of my son,” Ms Vemula asked.

Mr Raja Vemula, Rohith’s brother, took to Facebook to claim his FB page was hacked, and deny Mr Goyal’s charge.

“A fake tweet by Sanghis blaming my mother was shared more than 7,000. It is sad that my Facebook account was hacked into and a message was sent, just for the purpose of taking a screenshot and attaching it to the tweet. The money promised by the Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) was for our house.”

The misconception arose because Ms Vemula had slammed the IUML for making “false promises” and using her family for “political gains”.

Ms Vemula said that the IUML had given two cheques of `2.5 lakh each, of which one bounced due to technical problems; she did not mean that she was used as a political tool.

IUML’s Andhra Pradesh president Basheer Ahmed said the IUML had offered aid for construction of a house but it was delayed as the documents were not ready.

Ms Vemula said the IUML had approached them after the death of Rohith and promised them a house but it was not a bribe to speak against anyone.