NEW DELHI: After relative silence of over a week into the winter session, the BJP hit out at the Congress for alleged corruption charges against number of its leaders.
If the session had started on a positive note with Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaching out to the Congress, the thaw appeared to turn to frosty as both parties clashed with each other. Union minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman cited a number of corruption charges against the Congress leaders and its chief ministers saying the opposition party should take action against these leaders.
Sitharaman referred to former Finance Minister P Chidambram’s role in 2G scam, besides recent ED raids at firms linked to his son, Karti Chidambaram; charges against chief ministers of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand at a press conference in the Parliament House on Thursday.
Sitharaman, however, dismissed any suggestions that raising of corruption issue against the Congress had anything to do with the GST Bill. She hoped Congress was mature enough to continue to engage with the government help the Bill pass.
“GST is something which is their (Congress) bill. It is in national interest. If these are becoming an issue because of which Congress party, and I would not imagine that, would not support GST, then it would be a sad day,” she said.
Reacting to another issue over Congress members had clashed with the Government over “caste issue” raised by Kumari Selja in Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman said the matter was closed as minister Piyush Goyal had regreted his remarks.
Goyal had termed Selja’s comments that she was asked about her caste in Somanth Temple as “manufactured.” Raking up the alleged corruption cases involving Congress leaders, she said, “Congress is behaving as if they have not heard even a whisper. It is not one but several instances of corruption where Congress is happily looking the other way. We hope it engages in matters of public importance.”
Referring to the corruption charges, the Minister cited recent notification by the Swiss government,which she said had “reinforced” the charge that Preneet Kaur, a minister in the UPA government, had an undisclosed bank account in Switzerland. Kaur is Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh’s wife.