In a strong rebuttal to a CAG’s report pointing out the financial irregularities in his family-owned company, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday threatened to resign from the Cabinet and the lok Sabha if he is proven guilty of any corruption charges.
The Congress has been stalling the Rajya Sabha for three days now demanding Gadkari’s resignation over the allegations. On Tuesday too, the House was adjourned seven times as the Congress insisted on a probe into the findings of the CAG report.
Maintaining that all questions raised by the CAG have to be answered by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Gadkari denied allegations of any corruption in the grant of loan by IREDA to Purti Shakar Karkhan ltd (PSKl), in which he held the post of director till 2007.
“There is no allegation of corruption against me in the CAG report. The report is being distorted and people are being misled for political opportunism. I will answer all questions and will respond as many times as they want. I am ready to answer as long as you ask. But if you want to do politics, then it is a different matter,” he said.
Gadkari said the principal loan amount of Rs46.63 crore was provided by IREDA to Purti Group for a 22-MW bagasse-based power plant in Nagpur, and major part of the interest has been repaid.
The Congress made its intentions clear as soon as the proceedings began for the day with Deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma raising the issue. leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also tried to speak, but BJP member Vijay Goel did not allow him to do so for some minutes leading to verbal duel between the two parties.
Gadkari also rejected charges that the company had started generating energy from coal against norms saying, proper request was made with the government to enable the company to do so. In this regard, he furnished a letter dated September 14, 2009 seeking IREDA’s approval. He said the company decided to go for coal for producing power as there was a fall in sugarcane production.
“At that time I was not a minister, BJP President or even an MP...Maximum loan was given by IREDA to our companies. Your party had a government them. CAG report is not against me but IREDA. In a way it is a report against a government of your department. There are 29 companies, which took loan from IREDA. 18 did not pay the loan while nine did not pay the interst. PSKl has not done any kind of irregularity. There is no such allegation in the CAG report,” Gadkari said.
Azad said the house was witnessing uproar for the third consecutive day over the issue and demanded a discussion immediately as the Congress was not satisfied with Gadkari’s statement.
Countering him, leader of the House Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Gadkari had given a detailed statement stating the CAG report had not named him. “Congress had ample chance to seek clarifications from Gadkari then but did not do so,” Jaitley said, adding the main Opposition party was stalling the hosue to block passage of some crucial bills. He also said internal compulsions of the Congress cannot be allowed to be compulsions of the Rajya Sabha.
Challenging Jaitley, Congress member Pramod Tiwari said he has asked “to prove that Gadkari was corrupt. I have proof. I will prove it,” and continued to persist with his notice for suspension of business for discussing CAG report.
The House then saw sharp exchanges between Congress and BJP MPs leading to five adjournments in the forenoon. Dissatisfied with the government’s response, Congress and left parties staged a walkout thereby by “closing” the Gadkari chapter on Tuesday.
In the lok Sabha, the issue was raised by Deepender Hooda(Congress) who said the CAG report showed serious financial irregularities leading to a loss of Rs 12.7 crore to public exchequer. Amid strong protests from the BJP, he demanded a probe into the findings of the CAG report and till that time Gadkari should “relinquish” his office.