BHUBANESWAR: The second phase of the Budget session of the Assembly beginning on Tuesday is likely to be stormy with the opposition political parties deciding to target Minister of State for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Dasburma over his alleged links with scam tainted chit fund company Artha Tatwa (AT) Group.
Congress will raise the issue of alleged involvement of Ministers, ruling party MPs, MLAs and senior leaders in the chit fund scam, Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra said after the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.
The BJP has also decided to demand the resignation of Dasburma over the issue. BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said the meeting of the BJP Legislature Party (BJPLP) decided that BJP will demand resignation of the Minister for his alleged links with the ponzi firm.
On the other hand, the ruling BJD has decided to take advantage of a ruling by Speaker Niranjan Pujari on November 28, 2014 in which he disallowed a discussion on chit fund scam as the matter is sub-judice. The BJD has also decided to counter the Opposition onslaught by raising the issue of interrogation of State Youth Congress president Rajat Choudhury by CBI in connection with the AT scam on the day.
The BJD has stepped up its counter-attack following the interrogation of the State Youth Congress president by the CBI. “What is the reaction of the OPCC president to the interrogation of Choudhury by the CBI,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb asked.
The Congress, however, demanded that the CBI should clarify why it had summoned the State youth president now. Senior Congress leader LB Mohapatra told mediapersons that the CBI interrogation of Choudhury is meant to divert attention from Tuesday’s rally to demand Dasburma’s resignation. “Choudhury should be arrested if he is guilty,” Mohapatra said.
The Leader of Opposition said Congress will also raise the issue of mafia raj going on in the State with the protection and patronage of the Government and ruling party. Besides, the acute drinking water scarcity, failure of the Government to tackle the drought situation and problems of teachers will be raised, he said.
The BJP has decided to demand a white paper on heat wave in the State besides raising the issue of acute drinking water scarcity. Besides, irregularities in ration card distribution under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will also be raised by the party, Purohit said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Arukha, however, said the ruling party is prepared to discuss any issue raised by the Opposition in the Assembly.
CBI Grills State Cong Youth Chief
Bhubaneswar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday interrogated State Youth Congress president Rajat Choudhary for his alleged links with the scam-tainted chit fund company Artha Tatwa Group. Choudhary appeared before the CBI at around 4 pm and was grilled by the sleuths for more than three hours, sources said. Choudhary had the power of attorney of a property belonging to AT Group. The property was sold for `94 lakh to chit fund scam accused Dilip Mohanty who never actually paid the amount to the ponzi firm. This was the second time Rajat deposed before the Central agency. He was quizzed by the CBI earlier in October, 2014.