Abdul Bari Masoud for MuslimMirror.com
New Delhi: Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi what happened to his loud proclamation of ‘Na Khaunga Na Khane doonga’, Aam Aadmi Party said that the Prime Minister must sack Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju if he does not resign. It also asked why is the BJP silent on Kiren Rijiju’s scam and misuse of office.
AAP National Spokesperson Ashish Khetan said yesterday that Kiren Rijiju was completely exposed for his act of corruption and misuse of official position. He said the Aam Aadmi Party categorically states that Rijiju has no moral authority left to continue as a Union Minister.
The Prime Minister, who used to proudly proclaim – Na Khaunga Na khane Doogna – should now walk the talk and sack Mr Rijiju in case he does not resign on his own and he must order an impartial inquiry to ascertain the truth of this Rs 450 crore scam.
“What is really shocking is that when the Chief Vigilance Officer sent his report exposing this scam to the central government and central agencies, there was no action taken, if fact there were attempts made to bury the report because the perpetrators were related to Kiran Rijuju.
“Kiren Rijiju used his power to pressurize the Vigilance Officer to soften his report so that the payments that were stuck due to his allegation could get released! The news claims there are recordings sent by the Vigilance Officer, including a very incriminating conversation wherein Gogoi Rijiju, Kiran Rijiju’s brother tell the Vigilance Officer that ‘We have heard that you are getting promoted. Kindly let me know if there is any help that my bhaiya (elder brother) can give,” Ashish Khetan said.
Mr Rijiju, his cousin and certain officials of a company called Arunachal Hydro Project have been named in Rs 450 crore worth scam that was exposed by the Chief Vigilance Officer of this Public Sector Unit.
The CVO had made a detailed report of the scam and submitted to central agencies including the CVC and the CBI.
The modus operandi is shamefully similar to the infamous of fodder scam wherein fake bills were generated in the name of transportation by passing of a large number of two-wheeler and three-wheeler registration numbers as truck numbers.
Here too, non-existent vehicle numbers, or numbers of light vehicles, were passed off as trucks that were transporting large rocks & boulders to a Dam Site. This has been done on a very large scale causing a loss of Rs 450 crore.
When the report was uncovered, instead of punishing the scamsters, Bhaiya Kiren Rijiju (who could not make the payments himself as he is the Home Minister) wrote a letter to Power Minister Mr Piyush Goyal asking him to release payments to the contractors as they are very harassed due to financial constraints. He failed to mention that the contractors are his family members or that there is a report that makes it clear that their claims are fraudulent.”
Ashish Khetan added “I would like to draw the attention of my friends from the media to another similar scam during the UPA regime when Law Minsiter Ashwini Kumar had asked CBI to share with him an affidavit in the Coal Scam, and forcibly made changes in the affidavit. When this was exposed, the BJP and BJP leaders like Arun Jaitely demanded Ashwini Kumar’s resignation and he resigned. This Ashwin Kumar impropriety was an offence, but it pales in front of Kiran Rijiju’s scam. In this scam the Minister has gone to great lengths to conceal the scam conducted by his brother, he has interfered in the investigation directly, has used his office to write to his cabinet colleague to make the payments, and Kiran Rijiju’s brother has tried to intimidate the Vigilance Officer.”