Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his alleged silence on two major scams and demanded answers from Dr. Singh to 10 questions.
Mr. Gadkari reiterated the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to investigate the scams in the Commonwealth Games and 2G spectrum allocation.
Asked if he would demand Dr. Singh's resignation, he said the party had demanded a JPC investigation and once the report was out, it would then take a decision on demanding the Prime Minister's resignation. “I am only asking for answers and a JPC probe now,” he said.
Many firsts
For the first time in the country's history, the Supreme Court had raised questions on the Prime Minister's “alleged inaction and silence” on deciding on a private complaint seeking sanction for prosecution of the former Union Minister, A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum scam. The apex court indicated that the Prime Minister could not have sat on the complaint for 16 months, he pointed out.
Again, for the first time, he said, three ruling party leaders had quit in 10 days. The Congress had broken all records of corruption that totalled over Rs. 250,000 crore with the involvement of the political leadership. Dubbing this as “loot,” he said all this was painful for the country and it was time people got answers.
“In the Commonwealth Games, when the Finance Department objected to certain clearances, why did the Prime Minister go ahead with it?” he said. As Prime Minister he could have stopped things. “What is your silence indicating?” Mr. Gadkari demanded of the Prime Minister, adding that “Is no one listening to him?”
He said he was asking these 10 questions based on facts. He presented a huge document as a proof of this. It was the Congress style to make allegations but it was now embarrassing for the party and, instead of getting upset they should bring out the truth.
“The Congress is morally responsible for what has happened and in the last 62 years the corruption of these two scams has surpassed everything else. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), pointed to a presumptive loss of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in the allocation of the 2G spectrum, indicating that it is 3 per cent of India's GDP,” Mr. Gadkari said.
Justifying the demand for a JPC probe, he said the CBI was a confident ally of the Centre, which was using the investigating agency against the Opposition. Questioning the manner in which the CBI chief was given an extension, he said, “How can it inquire into Ministers?” He said he expected the Prime Minister to take a positive decision on constituting a JPC soon.
Adarsh scam
Mr. Gadkari said he had no direct or indirect involvement with the Adarsh Society scam in Mumbai.
“I don't have any links and I don't own a flat by proxy,” he said. He had formed a committee of 20 lawyers and was firm on taking legal action against anyone who made allegations against him. He had sent a defamation notice to Manish Tiwari of the Congress.
Karnataka scandal
Mr. Gadkari said he did not know if Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yedyurappa was returning the land involved in the scam in the State and he had not got any letter from him. He would have to verify the matter in Karnataka first and then decide on the course of action.
The BJP chief alleged that the Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Governor were attempting to destabilise the BJP government in the State and it was undemocratic. The BJP core committee was meeting in New Delhi to discuss the issue, he noted.
