NEW DELHI: A resignation demand based on an alleged Rs 450 crore scam in the Kameng Hydro Electric Project (KHEP), one of the biggest ventures of Arunachal Pradesh, centering around minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju and his alleged contractor-cousin Goboi Rijiju seems to be boomeranging on the Congress.
In a quick rebuttal, the minister turned the heat back on a past regime belonging to the grand old party and vehemently denied he had any relations with the contractor.
The demand for Rijiju's sacking came from Congress media cell chief Randip Singh Surjewala while releasing an audio-recorded conversation of the minister’s supposed cousin. What was apparent from the audio was that much of the Rs 450 crore scam had to do “with inflated and false transportation bills” (an age-old technique of siphoning off funds in the Northeast).
The minister was dragged into the allegation for writing a letter to power minister Piyush Goyal lobbying for release of project funds to his 'contractor-cousin' Goboi Rijiju, who was allegedly involved in wrongdoing in the construction of the two dams.
On the basis of the audio-tape and a vigilance report, Surjewala said, “Kiren Rijiju has no right to stay in office. He should either be dismissed by the Prime Minister or asked to resign till an independent probe is complete."
The allegations of a scam in the KHEP project had their genesis in a report filed by IPS officer Satish Verma in his capacity as chief vigilance officer of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO). He pointed out corruption in the construction of two 600 MW dams and alleged that a conspiracy involving contractors, NEEPCO officials and the West Kameng district administration took place to defraud NEEPCO and the government to the tune of Rs 450 crore.
The report, part of which surfaced in the media Tuesday, was sent to the CBI, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Ministry of Power in July this year. Soon afterwards, Verma was shifted to Tripura on some pretext. The CBI did start an enquiry but has not yet registered a case.
Minister Rijiju initially appeared a bit circumspect while responding to the media report. He admitted he had indeed written a letter to power minister Goyal but it was after he had “received a representation from his constituency (Arunachal West)’’. He claimed to be innocent of any wrongdoing or corruption.
“if there has been any corruption, it should be investigated,’’ he said. However, with the opposition, particularly the Congress, picking up the issue, he got rather belligerent, asserting that “those who planted the story’’ would be “beaten with shoes when they go to Arunachal’’.
And, by the time the Congress demanded his resignation, the minister came all guns blazing, not only to defend himself but also to throw a counter-challenge at the Congress. In a full-fledged rebuttal to the Congress charge that the scam took place “when the constitutionally elected government in Arunachal was being threatened’’, minister Rijiju said facts were to the contrary.
The contract, he pointed out, was awarded when the Congress was in power; the major part of the central funds were released also when the old party was in power in the Centre and in Arunachal; not when his party (BJP) was in power and before he became a central minister.
“If Congress is terming this as a scam, it has to apologise to the nation for the wrongdoings that happened during its regime,’’ the minister said, adding that “if there was any corruption in the deals or if there were false or inflated bills’’, it is the Congress that “is answerable’’.
Rijiju also said that he was not even an MP during the execution of the project. He claimed villagers from his constituency had approached him for clearance of small bills from 2012-14, and he had accordingly written to Goyal. But by then bulk of the payments had been made.
He also denied that Goboi Rijiju was his cousin. “In our village, we are all like brothers. We do not marry within the village and the person (contractor) is not related to me. In fact, he’s not even a contractor.’’
Rijiiju's party is obviously backing him to the hilt.