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Congress cries foul over 'tainted' ministers, government hits back

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Ajay Maken, AICC general secretary
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TDP’s YS Chowdary -- the richest member in Narendra Modi’s council of ministers -- has given the Congress a chance to turn the tables on the BJP, accusing the government of inducting “tainted” ministers. 

AICC general secretary Ajai Maken demanded Chowdhury’s resignation alleging that bank documents claimed that his company has defaulted on repayment of Rs 317.6 crore of loans with the Central Bank of India. The Congress also said that Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria, who has been made minister of state for human resources development, had a record of 23 cases against him in the affidavit he has filed with the Election Commission and that 1.24 crore was recovered from Giriraj Singh and questioned their inclusion at a time when the prime minister was talking of cleaning parliament of criminal MPs.

The allegations drew a sharp reaction from finance minister Arun Jaitley, who took charge on Monday as information and broadcasting minister, saying as long as there was no “moral turpitude” in the cases against the ministers there was nothing wrong. “In UPA, the prime minister had no authority. In NDA, the PM has the last word,” he said adding that deciding who should be taken into the Cabinet was the prime minister’s prerogative.

Founder and chairman of Sajana Group of Companies, Yalamanchili Satyanarayana Chowdhary, 53, the MP from Andhra Pradesh had declared assets worth Rs 189 crore. He holds a degree in engineering and belongs to powerful Kamma community in AP. In 2011, the Sajana Group was was ranked as one of the top 10 expanding groups of companies in India.

Chowdary’s Sujana Towers Limited was recently in news for defaulting on loans of around Rs 316 crore from Central Bank of India. Central Bureau of Investigation is also investigating cases of Non Performing Assets in various public sector banks including Central Bank of India and has already registered more than 25 cases in the matter.

"There is no thinking or rationale behind Modi-ji's Cabinet expansion. Modi-ji, have you removed the health and railway minister because they were corrupt, or they were incompetent and performed poorly? If you have removed the ministers because their assets have increased then in your cabinet there are two more ministers whose asset have increased in the past three months,so what about them," Maken had said at a press conference here. 

The Congress also said 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.

 

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