BHUBANESWAR: Problems for Minister of State for Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Sanjay Dasburma seem to be mounting with the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday announcing that the party will organise a demonstration on April 26 to demand resignation of the Minister.
The decision was taken at a meeting of senior leaders of the Congress presided by OPCC president Prasad Harichandan here. Congress and BJP have mounted a campaign against Dasburma after the CBI served a notice on him to provide documents relating to vehicles owned by him and his family members.
“Congress has decided to stage a demonstration demanding the Minister’s resignation. Dasburma has no moral right to continue as a Minister and should step down immediately without which the ongoing CBI probe into the mega chit fund scam will be affected,” Harichandan said after the meeting.
Senior Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra had raised the issue by alleging that the confession statement of CMD of scam-tainted Artha Tatwa Group Pradip Sethy to the CBI mentioned one Sanjay Dasburma who had received a Mitsubishi Pajero vehicle as a gift. He demanded that CBI should investigate this aspect.
While Congress announced to take to the streets over the issue, the BJP alleged that chit fund companies have invested in five firms controlled by Dasburma’s family members and demanded a CBI probe into it.
However, BJD spokesperson Sashi Bhushan Behera said the opposition political parties have a right to hold demonstration on any issue. He said the BJD is prepared to counter the agitation launched by them.
Meanwhile, former minister Pratap Keshari Deb reiterated that the Congress and BJP have joined hands to defame BJD in Odisha. He questioned the manner in which the issue is being raised after one and a half years by both Congress and BJP.
The CBI had issued a notice to Dasburma under Section 91 of the CrPC asking him to submit documents of all vehicles used by him and his family members.
Besides Harichandan, former Union minister Srikant Jena, former OPCC president Sarat Patnaik, former MP Anant Prasad Sethi and Mohapatra attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Sethy, who was being produced in a local court during the day, offered his comments on the issue saying “the allegation is the biggest joke of the year”.