In fresh embarrassment to Congress, the former Comptroller and Auditor-General Vinod Rai has claimed he was pressured by the UPA regime to drop certain names from audit reports in coal blocks allocation and Commonwealth Games. Mr. Rai claimed on Saturday that some UPA coalition functionaries had deputed politicians to get him to leave out certain names in this regard.
The Congress on Sunday questioned the integrity of Mr. Rai and accused him of indulging in “senstionalism” while BJP demanded that the identity of leaders who “approached” him be revealed.
Mr. Rai is penning his views in his forthcoming book “Not Just An Accountant” to be released in October.
Mr. Rai, who demitted office last year after several run-ins with the UPA government, made the comments on the sidelines of a book launch event here.
He said he would provide details of how sheer considerations of survival led former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to acquiesce to decisions that caused huge loss to the exchequer.
Slamming Mr. Rai, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari reiterated the “standing invite” to “Rai Sahib” to debate at any forum of his choice “sensationalism that formed the staple of his tenure.”
“If at all, he was under any pressure or he was being coerced either obliquely, directly, implicitly that certain people be named and others deleted, was it not incumbent upon him to make it public at that point of time,” he said.
The BJP said that it was time for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to speak up and that the Congress should come clean on the issue.
