BENGALURU: Congress is adrift. Despite a directive from the party leadership asking its members not to speak against the coalition government, disgruntled senior Congress leader H K Patil hit out at “his own government” yet again.
The veteran leader, who has been sulking after being denied a ministerial berth, fired a fresh salvo against the government in relation to the IMA Jewels scam.
In an elaborate letter to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Patil said, “The present action of the government is only targeted towards investigation, which is not at all enough.” He then went on to ask the CM what was being done to protect the investors’ interest and added that the government has a greater responsibility than merely punishing the culprits.
This is not the first time the former minister is taking a jibe at the coalition government, embarrassing it in the process. He earlier hit out at his colleague K J George over JSW land deal. He slammed the coalition for selling 3,666 acres to JSW Steel in Ballari at a cheap price. While George had claimed that JSW had no dues towards the state government, Patil refuted this and said that Jindal owes Rs 2,000 crore.
Patil is not the only Congress leader to have hit out at the coalition. Among the others who took potshots at the Congress-JDS alliance are Roshan Baig, Anand Singh, B C Patil and Ramesh Jarkiholi.
In his letter to the CM, he listed out 10 points that the government should act on. He urged the government to invoke the provisions of ‘The banning of unregulated deposit schemes ordinance 2019’. He added that while penal provisions will punish the culprit, what is more important is to ensure that the investors get back their money. He quoted the legal provisions of the ordinance which provide for repayment to depositors within 180 days by auctioning properties of the culprits.
“Any number of special courts can be constituted for the purpose of the act and such courts should regularise the confiscation of the property within 30 days and distribute the proceeds within 180 days.” He said a separate account can be operated for the purpose.
To make his point, he added that experts too have spoken about the looming spectre of suicides if enough is not done to help the investors.
Patil also added that a competent authority needs to be constituted to confiscate the nami and benami properties of the culprits and added that the CM needs to monitor the process on a regular basis.