Murli Manohar Joshi-led panel slams govt over NPAs
At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing the "chowkidar-chor-hai" charge from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, a parliamentary panel has triggered more political trouble for him.
The Estimates Committee of Parliament headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Murli Manohar Joshi has asked the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to depose and provide details on what action the government initiated on a list of large corporate houses, which had amassed a large amount of non-performing assets (NPAs).
The list was submitted to the PMO by ex-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan during his tenure.
This is not the only salvo fired at the government by Joshi.
The Joshi-led committee has also sent notices to the coal and power ministries asking for explanations on mounting NPAs in the sectors. Rajan in his note had flagged the two sectors for their contributions to the NPAs. The coal ministry is headed by high-profile minister Piyush Goyal and he was also the power minister before RK Singh was given the charge.
Joshi has been sidelined by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership. He was removed from the top decision-making bodies of the BJP like the parliamentary board along with LK Advani and sent to an ineffective 'margdarshak mandal' after BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
Sources in the committee said that the PMO was sent a "notice" by the Lok Sabha committee to depose before it and provide details of the probe or legal proceedings initiated against the list submitted by Raghuram Rajan.
The Estimates Committee had asked for Rajan's "help" to resolve the mounting NPAs problem.
In his reply to the committee Rajan had said, "The RBI set up a fraud-monitoring cell when I was governor to coordinate the early reporting of fraud cases to the investigative agencies. I also sent a list of high-profile cases to the PMO urging that we coordinate action to bring at least one or two to book. I am not aware of progress on this front. This is a matter that should be addressed with urgency."
The opposition had slammed the government over this "revelation" by the ex-RBI governor, though Rajan has also backed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government by saying in his note that "most NPAs originated in the 2006-08 period when the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] was in power".
Rajan had said that he had sought "coordinated investigation into corporates committing frauds with bank funds". He had stated that he told the PMO that it should set an example and act as a "deterrent" if a "high-profile fraud NPA was made an example of".
The fact that Rajan, in his note to the committee said that he was "unaware" of action taken, if any, on those who he had listed has armed the opposition.
Meanwhile, all is not well in the estimates committee too. Sources say that some BJP members of the committee are not happy with the actions of the committee chairman MM Joshi.
In the past few months there have been protests by BJP MPs present in the committee. Sources said Nishikant Dubey, a BJP MP, had staged a walk out of a meeting in which former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian was deposing.
Joshi has left quite a few BJP leaders red-faced. In an article he had raised issues like 'raj dharma' and the duty of a king. In another meeting Joshi had told finance ministry that NPAs were the collective responsibility of the government and not just one particular department.
Courtesy: www.indiatoday.in
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Uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed votes for NDA: Himanta
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that his government's "uncompromising stand" in taking steps against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed people in favour of the BJP-led NDA in this year's assembly elections, resulting in the alliance securing a two-thirds majority.
He maintained that the NDA's win was a victory for the Assamese indigenous people and affirmed continuing developmental work in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said, "The double-engine government and unprecedented development the state witnessed in the last five years are among the main reasons for our victory."
"We had assured of securing the Assamese 'jati' (community) and took steps to deliver it. Assam progressed in the cultural and economic sectors. Our uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims also had an impact," he said.
The NDA swept to a third successive term in the state by securing 102 seats in the 126-member state assembly. The BJP won 82 seats, while its allies AGP and Bodoland People's Front bagged 10 each.
On Sarma predicting nearly exact numbers for the alliance before the results, he said the assessment was based on his connect with the people.
"I visited every assembly segment thrice before elections. I have a good mass connect system, which helped in my assessment," he said.
Sarma claimed that recommendations of the Justice (retd) Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which deals with constitutional safeguards for the indigenous Assamese population, were implemented by his government.
"It was because of it that the Assamese people won yesterday. It was not just a BJP victory," he asserted.
The CM claimed the NDA secured the support of all sections of people, including Gen Z, which was evident in the young faces fielded by the BJP emerging victorious.
He dismissed the charge that the BJP has an "outsider" among its MLAs, referring to Guwahati Central legislator-elect Vijay Gupta.
"Vijay Gupta is an Assamese. If he is a Bihari, we (ancestors) also came from Kannauj. We all have come from different parts. Mongoloids came from outside, Aryans came from outside. This outsider narrative has been created by you all (media)," Sarma said.
On the Congress' poor poll performance, he maintained that there were very few people in the opposition party who understood the sentiments of the Assamese people.
Otherwise, the Congress would not have brought singer Zubeen Garg's name in its manifesto or levied allegations against an Assamese woman, Sarma added, referring to the opposition party's charges of multiple passports and undisclosed foreign investments of his wife.
The CM also maintained that Raijor Dal could have won four-five seats had it not joined hands with the Congress.
The Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal were part of a six-party opposition alliance that fought the elections together. Congress won 19 seats and Raijor Dal two, with the other allies drawing a blank.
"If Akhil Gogoi had not made the mistake, Sherman Ali Ahmed would have been his MLA today," Sarma said, referring to the expelled Congress leader who won as a TMC candidate after Raijor Dal refused him a ticket owing to the alliance.
On Gogoi being the only opposition MLA to win from a Hindu-majority seat, Sarma said, "It is the people of Sibsagar who decided who will represent them. On my part, it was the only Hindu majority seat where I didn't go to campaign."
"Akhil Gogoi should be kept in the assembly, else he will create chaos on the streets with his protests," Sarma said.
He also claimed that Gogoi had failed to make a single serious speech in the assembly during his first tenure as MLA and dubbed the Raijor Dal president a "comic relief" when the proceedings get dull.
