NEW DELHI: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Central government in the Lok Sabha, saying that they failed to put alleged "thieves" -- Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- behind the bars in 2G and coal allocation scams despite being in power in the last term.
"Did you manage to catch anybody in 2G and coal allocation scams? Did you manage to send Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi behind the bars? You came to power by calling them thieves. Then, how are they sitting in the parliament," asked Chowdhury, newly-elected Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
The 2G scam dates back to 2007-2008 when the Congress party was in power. It relates to the grant of 2G spectrum licence allocations, which caused, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the public exchequer.
On the other hand, coal allocation scam relates to the allocation of coal blocks to private companies by the Central government between 1993 and 2010.
Senior Congress leader and West Bengal MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was on June 18 named by the Congress as its leader in the Lok Sabha.
Chowdhury, who is leading 52 Congress MPs in the Lower House, has replaced senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who served as the Leader of the Congress in the 16th Lok Sabha.