BJP president Rajnath Singh on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recommends a CBI probe into the multi-crore mining scam in the State.
Addressing party’s Vijaya Sanklap Samavesh here, Singh said, “The Shah Commission report has recommended for a CBI probe. I would like to urge upon Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to admit the scam on moral grounds and refer the matter to CBI to go to the root of the matter.”
He slammed the Congress-led UPA Government at the Center for delaying the presentation of all the three volumes of the Shah Commission’s report in the Parliament while the Supreme Court has ordered for a probe into the mining scam.
Only one volume of the Shah Commissions report has been tabled in the lok Sabha by the UPA Government to protect Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for obvious reason, he said. He alleged that both the Centre and State Government are hand in gloves in the mining scam.
The BJP president said the Center did not deliberately present the Mines and Mineral Development Bill in the Parliament aiming to protect the interest of the mining companies. Had the bill been passed in the Parliament, at least 26 per cent of the profit from the mineral excavations would have gone to the States. This has greatly affected the tribal dominated States like Odisha, he said.
Calling upon the people to bring BJP to power both in Odisha and Delhi in the 2014 general elections, he said, if his party comes to power, its first job would be to provide soft loan with low interest rates to the youths to make them self reliant.