BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Opposition demand for resignation of Minister for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Dasburma intensified, the Congress on Thursday alleged that the CBI probe into the chit fund scam has been deliberately delayed to protect BJD politicians and leaders involved in it.
Alleging that there has been a deal between the BJP and BJD, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Prasad Harichandan referred to the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at New Delhi on Tuesday.
Harichandan said some of the top BJP leaders are also of the opinion that the CBI investigation is not being conducted properly to protect BJD leaders involved in it. Even people of Odisha have realised that the BJD Government in the State is continuing in power because of the BJP Government at the Centre, he said.
Referring to the investigation into Dasburma’s links with the Artha Tatwa Group, senior Congress leader and former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik said only a few BJP leaders may want the CBI to act. “But it will do nothing because of the protection Naveen Patnaik enjoys from national BJP president Amit Shah and others, may be even Narendra Modi,” he said. Earlier, two senior BJP leaders Bijoy Mohapatra and KV Singhdeo had criticised the CBI for the delay in its investigation into the chit fund scam.
However, senior BJP leader Sajjan Sharma dismissed the charges. “The CBI probe into the chit fund scam was delayed when UPA was in power at the Centre because of the deal between Congress and BJD,” he said.
BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said the BJD has not struck any deal either with the BJP or the Congress.