The Congress on Monday took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the induction of 21 new faces in his Council of Ministers.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken questioned the logic behind the Cabinet expansion and slammed the PM for bringing in ‘tainted’ ministers.
At the same time he asked for the resignation of ‘corrupt’ ministers who had been sworn-in yesterday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The revamp exercise 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, the Congress leader said.
Demanding an apology from the PM for his ‘failure’ to deliver on his election promises, Maken also sought the resignation of newly inducted Minister YS 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 PM 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 PM should have kept tainted persons away from the ministry as it lay within his prerogative.
