Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Cabinet expansion accusing him of including more "tainted" ministers in the government contrary to his election rhetoric of "cleaning up" Parliament of criminals.
The revamp exercise also sounded hollow and lacked rationale in shifting of ministers, especially when the Finance Minister has been given additional charge of Information and Broadcasting with which it has no synergy, it said.
Demanding an apology from the Prime Minister for his "failure" to deliver on his election promises, AICC General Secretary Ajai Maken also sought the resignation of newly inducted Minister Y S Chowdhury citing bank documents that claimed that his company has defaulted on repayment of Rs 317.6 crore of loans with Central Bank of India.
Claiming that two to three controversial new ministers were inducted in the expansion yesterday, Maken said the number of "tainted" ministers has gone upto 15 to 16 out of the 66.
"Did you make him a Minister to save him from default. The Modi government should come clean on it and the Minister should resign," he said.
He alleged that another Minister Ram Shankar Katheria has a record of 23 cases against him in the affidavit he has filed with the Election Commission.
"Perhaps, no other MP has such bulky criminal record," he said.
Citing the recovery worth Rs 1.25 crore stolen from newly inducted Minister Giriraj Singh, he said, "People of the country want to know from the Prime Minister who is tainted if not a person from whose residence such huge cash is recovered and the matter is being inquired by the Income Tax.
"Congress wants to know from Modi why there is hiatus between words and deeds. You talk of cleaning Parliament of criminals, but (you) go on inducting tainted ministers," Maken said, adding that the Prime Minister should have kept tainted persons away from the ministry as it lay within his prerogative. Ridiculing the change in porftolios of some ministers, Maken said, "There is no thinking and rationale behind shifting of these ministers. Earlier a doctor Harsh Vardhan was the Health Minister, now he has been repleaced by a lawyer J P Nadda.
"Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is given the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting. The Prime Minister earlier used to talk about synergy among related departments. What is the synergy between Finance Ministry and I and B except that some businessmen have purchased media houses. Is there other synergy between the two?" Maken asked.
Recalling that the Prime Minister used to talk about clubbing various departments and having a leaner Cabinet, he wondered why Department of Ayush has been separated from the Health Ministry and handed over to a new minister.
"You talked about minimum government, maximum governance. Have you not taken a U-turn? Modiji, you have not given answers but raised many questions. We hope that action will be taken against tainted ministers and you will tender apology"", he said.
Wondering why D V Sadananda Gowda has been shifted from the Railway Ministry to that of Law and Justice which was earlier headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad, he said, "If the ministers for Railways and Health were changed because of lack of performance or incompetence, it means the BJP Government has been a failure all this period."
Alleging that the assets of Gowda rose from Rs 9.88 crore to Rs 20.35 crore three months after he became a minister, he said if "you had removed (him) due to corruption, then there are two more ministers, whose assets have risen this way." He, however, refused to name the other ministers at this stage.
(With inputs from Agencies)
Among 21 new faces in PM's team is two-time MP Ram Shankar Katheria who has 23 criminal cases registered against him. http://t.co/bRElXDv1xI
— ADR India (@adrspeaks) November 10, 2014
The revamp exercise also sounded hollow and lacked rationale in shifting of ministers, especially when the Finance Minister has been given additional charge of Information and Broadcasting with which it has no synergy, it said.
Allegation against MoS #RamshankarKatheria is politically motivated as SP govt has framed false cases against every BJP workers:@arunjaitley
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 10, 2014
Demanding an apology from the Prime Minister for his "failure" to deliver on his election promises, AICC General Secretary Ajai Maken also sought the resignation of newly inducted Minister Y S Chowdhury citing bank documents that claimed that his company has defaulted on repayment of Rs 317.6 crore of loans with Central Bank of India.
#CabinetExpansion Among the 64 cabinet ministers, 7 ministers declared total assets worth more than Rs. 30 crores @adrspeaks
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) November 10, 2014
S.No.
|
Name
|
State
|
Constituency
|
Party Name
|
Total Assets (Rs)
|
PAN Given
|
1
|
Yalamanchili Satyanarayana Chowdary
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
Rajya Sabha Member
|
TDP
|
1,89,69,51,681
189 Crore+
|
Y
|
2
|
Arun Jaitley
|
Gujarat
|
Rajya Sabha (Gujarat)
|
BJP
|
1,13,02,16,000
113 Crore+ |
Y
|
3
|
Harsimrat Kaur Badal
|
Punjab
|
Bathinda
|
SAD
|
1,08,16,64,910
108 Crore+ |
Y
|
4
|
Jayant Sinha
|
Jharkhand
|
Hazaribagh
|
BJP
|
55,67,54,579
55 Crore+ |
Y
|
5
|
Mahesh Sharma
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
Gautam Budhha Nagar
|
BJP
|
47,37,97,545
47 Crore+ |
Y
|
6
|
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
Pilibhit
|
BJP
|
37,41,32,826
37 Crore+ |
Y
|
7
|
Piyush Goyal
|
Maharashtra
|
Rajya Sabha (Maharashtra)
|
BJP
|
30,34,65,410
30 Crore+ |
Y
|
Claiming that two to three controversial new ministers were inducted in the expansion yesterday, Maken said the number of "tainted" ministers has gone upto 15 to 16 out of the 66.
"Did you make him a Minister to save him from default. The Modi government should come clean on it and the Minister should resign," he said.
He alleged that another Minister Ram Shankar Katheria has a record of 23 cases against him in the affidavit he has filed with the Election Commission.
"Perhaps, no other MP has such bulky criminal record," he said.
Out of the 64 ministers analysed, 59 (92%) are crorepatis @adrspeaks
— Press Release Watch (@PrReleaseWatch) November 10, 2014
Citing the recovery worth Rs 1.25 crore stolen from newly inducted Minister Giriraj Singh, he said, "People of the country want to know from the Prime Minister who is tainted if not a person from whose residence such huge cash is recovered and the matter is being inquired by the Income Tax.
One wonders what's common between Finance and I&B Ministry?
Is it that some Business Houses have acquired some Media Houses? #JustAsking
— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) November 9, 2014
"Congress wants to know from Modi why there is hiatus between words and deeds. You talk of cleaning Parliament of criminals, but (you) go on inducting tainted ministers," Maken said, adding that the Prime Minister should have kept tainted persons away from the ministry as it lay within his prerogative. Ridiculing the change in porftolios of some ministers, Maken said, "There is no thinking and rationale behind shifting of these ministers. Earlier a doctor Harsh Vardhan was the Health Minister, now he has been repleaced by a lawyer J P Nadda.
Bank documents of Y S Chowdary show that his firm defaulted on repayment of Rs 317.6 Cr of loans with Central Bank of India: @ajaymaken
— INC India (@INCIndia) November 10, 2014
"Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is given the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting. The Prime Minister earlier used to talk about synergy among related departments. What is the synergy between Finance Ministry and I and B except that some businessmen have purchased media houses. Is there other synergy between the two?" Maken asked.
Recalling that the Prime Minister used to talk about clubbing various departments and having a leaner Cabinet, he wondered why Department of Ayush has been separated from the Health Ministry and handed over to a new minister.
"You talked about minimum government, maximum governance. Have you not taken a U-turn? Modiji, you have not given answers but raised many questions. We hope that action will be taken against tainted ministers and you will tender apology"", he said.
Wondering why D V Sadananda Gowda has been shifted from the Railway Ministry to that of Law and Justice which was earlier headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad, he said, "If the ministers for Railways and Health were changed because of lack of performance or incompetence, it means the BJP Government has been a failure all this period."
Will the Honourable Law Minister Shri Sadanand Gowda investigate the Rape Case against his own son? #CabinetExpansion pic.twitter.com/f5HvdFkQOY
— INC India (@INCIndia) November 10, 2014
Alleging that the assets of Gowda rose from Rs 9.88 crore to Rs 20.35 crore three months after he became a minister, he said if "you had removed (him) due to corruption, then there are two more ministers, whose assets have risen this way." He, however, refused to name the other ministers at this stage.
(With inputs from Agencies)
