Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik has flayed the decision of State Assembly Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat not to permit an Opposition-sponsored adjournment motion on full ramifications of the Shah Commission report on the Odisha mining scam.
“The first two volumes of the commission’s report came to light only last week and, therefore, the issue is of immediate public importance. How could the commission’s report have been discussed earlier when the report became public only nowIJ If the Government has courage, let it say that the report published in the website last week is not genuine. But if the report is genuine then a full discussion must be held. Why else should there be an Assembly in the StateIJ” asked Patnaik in a statement on Saturday.
The Congress leader said the argument that there is nothing immediate is a phony logic advanced to shelter Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his BJD Government. If mining scam, which is the biggest corruption case in Odisha’s history, does not deserve to be discussed through an adjournment motion, there is unfortunately something drastically wrong about the way parliamentary procedures are understood by the Speaker and the Government. Such media expose have been the basis of adjournment motion time and again and the Speaker should follow the laid-down convention.
He said that for a long time, the BJD has been claiming to be running an honest Government. The Shah Commission in Pages 112 to 115 of its first report made a severe indictment of the Government under the heading ‘Corruption’ leaving behind no manner of doubt that during 2008 to 2011 there was large-scale plundering of the wealth of the State in broad daylight because of a conspiracy involving political leaders.
The question is who are these political leadersIJ The BJD has been in office for the last 15 years and cannot claim that anyone else prevented them from stopping the loot. The Andhra Pradesh Government suo moto handed over the mining scam in its State to the CBI for investigation. Now, the BJD Government does not even want to discuss the Shah Commission report that has concluded that the investigation by the State Vigilance lacks credibility and has recommended a CBI investigation. Is it in Odisha’s interest that the guilty go unpunished, asked Patnaik
For a while the BJD kept denying that the commission has indicted any political leader or that it has recommended a CBI investigation. It was even saying that the commission has expressed satisfaction by action initiated by the State Government. Now that the truth is known, people have a right to be told about this saga of systematic plundering of their wealth, said Patnaik. He suggested that a combined opposition force the Government to agree to a comprehensive discussion on the Shah Commission report in the Assembly.