Congress targets PM, Shah over allegations against Naidu

The Congress today stepped up its attack on NDA vice presidential candidate M Venkaiah Naidu and questioned the silence of the prime minister and the BJP chief on the issue of probity and transparency in public life after it levelled charges against the former union minister and his family members.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talk of "zero tolerance on corruption and wrongdoing" and said all such claims had turned hollow after he and BJP chief Amit Shah failed to give satisfactory replies to questions posed by the Congress.

"Caesar s wife must be above suspicion. People of India demand answers. It is time Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Venkaiah Naidu answer these questions instead of hiding behind platitudes," he told reporters.

Surjewala said on July 24, the Congress party raised important issues of "probity in public life" and "accountability and transparency" asking the prime minister as also the BJP president to come forward and reply in the context of repeated rhetoric of 'Zero Tolerance for Corruption and Wrongdoing.'

The Congress leader said replies given by Naidu as also in his defence by the TRS government of Telangana have left more questions than answers.

He said Telangana government and Naidu have admitted that 'Swarna Bharat Trust' of Deepa Venkat (Naidu s daughter) was given exemption from paying various developmental charges amounting to Rs 2.46 crore to Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.

"Naidu has sought to justify this unilateral waiver by saying that 16 more trusts were given exemptions.

"What the Telangana government and Naidu did not tell, as to why similar exemption was not granted to hundreds of other NGOs by the government? What was the criteria for grant of exemption in payment of government charges of Rs 2.46 crore to Swarna Bharat Trust in absence of any policy or rationale?," he asked.

On the issue of contract for 350 Toyota vehicles by Telangana government to Harsh Toyota without a tender, he asked what was the price difference of cars bought from the dealer owned by Naidu's son and the other dealer through tender.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)