Raipur, January 20
Congress has asked Chhattisgarh’s BJP government to enact Lokayukta legislation on the lines of Centre’s Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2013 forthwith if it really wanted to make its zero tolerance policy on graft issues effective. The party felt that the existing framework of Lok Ayog in Chhattisgarh lacked teeth and had completely failed in tackling prevalent corruption in the system and hence had no option than to follow mirror image of the Central model.
In their first joint interaction with media ahead of State assembly’s budget session slated to commence from February 3, PCC president Bhupesh Baghel and leader of opposition TS Singhdeo said the party would not only raise this demand in the House but also tell people how CM Raman Singh had deceived them by merely talking about zero tolerance policy on grafts and not taking any initiative as Congress-led UPA did.
The duo said the party was committed to implement Lokpal-like law in all the Congress-ruled states by February 28 - an apparent move ahead of general elections to frustrate BJP which is planning to raise corruption along with other issues prominently to attack UPA government and woo voters.
The Lok Sabha passed Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2013 during its winter session on December 18, 2013 and gives one-year time to states to bring their Lokayukta legislation. However, the states will be free to decide the form and powers of the ombudsman’s office.
The State congress also demanded issuance of white paper on 29 major scams that were included in its charge-sheet against the ruling BJP before recent assembly election. Since names of CM Raman Singh and then cabinet ministers too were flashed in some of the scams, the opposition demanded probe into all the cases by an independent agency.
Baghel and Singhdeo said it was corruption that kept development at bay in tribal-populated Bastar and Sarguja for past ten years and the people there lacked even the basic facilities like road, electricity, water, health, potable water and education.
BJP MP, MLA linked to Maoists
The Congress has alleged that BJP MP from Kanker Sohan Potai and Antagarh MLA Vikram Usendi were linked to Maoist supporters Neeraj and his uncle Dharmendra Chopra. Both Neeraj and Dharmendra were arrested recently by Chhattisgarh police.
During their media interaction, both PCC president Bhupesh Baghel and leader of opposition TS Singhdeo pointed their fingers towards Potai and Usendi but posed mysterious silence over alleged links of their own partymen with the ultras.
Sources informed that besides Potai and Usendi, Congress legislator from Bhanupratappur Manoj Mandavi too is closely linked to Neeraj and Dharmendra. It is learnt that Neeraj had good rapport with all the three politicians and was working for them.
The State police claim to have unearthed major urban network of Maoists by trapping Neeraj and Dharmendra and hope to make few more arrests on the basis of their information.
No comments:
Post a Comment