Rijiju in Rs 450 cr scam row, rejects charge as opp guns for him

December 13, 2016

New Delhi, Dec 13: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju was in the eye of a political storm today over an alleged Rs 450 crore scam in a power project in Arunachal Pradesh after he wrote a letter to the Power Ministry to clear the bills of contractors, provoking opposition demand for his ouster but he denied any wrongdoing.

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The controversy erupted over news reports that the Chief Vigilance Officer of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Satish Verma, an IPS officer of Gujarat cadre who probed the Ishrat Jahan encounter case as part of the Special Investigation Team, had sent a report to the CBI, CVC and the Power Ministry highlighting alleged corruption in construction of two dams as part of the 600 mw Kameng Hydel project.

In his report, Verma was said to have named Kiren Rijiju and Goboi Rijiju, who he claimed was the minister's cousin, while alleging an "elaborate conspiracy" involving contractors, NEEPCO officials and the West Kameng district administration to defraud the state-run company and the government of funds that "may extend up to Rs 450 crore".

Alleging that it was a Rs 450-crore scam committed by using false and inflated transportation bills, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala released an audio tape of a purported conversation of the minister's claimed cousin with Verma, and Rijiju's letter recommending that held up payments be released.

"Kiren Rijiju has no right to stay in office. He should either be dismissed by the Prime Minister or asked to resign till an independent probe is complete," he said.

The opposition party also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his "tall claims" of bringing transparency have "fallen flat" as had happened with several other scandals in the past including Vyapam, Lalitgate and the Vijay Mallya issue.

"Mr Modi's claims of transparency and honesty is now under question. People of India are looking at what action he takes on this issue," Surjewala said.

Rejecting Congress' charge of his complicity in the alleged scam, Rijiju said he had only forwarded a memorandum received from "petty contractors" from his village to Power Minister Piyush Goyal on November 4, 2015 to get their petition considered on a priority.

"I have written the letter to the Power Minister after I received representations from some people in my constituency in Arunachal West regarding pending bills. I have done no wrong and there is no corruption."

Peeved at the allegations, the Minister said, "Those who planted the story will be beaten up with shoes when they will come to our area."

He also denied that Goboi Rijiju was related to him, saying, "Among tribals in a village, everybody is a cousin. He is not related to me by blood. I have no brothers. Both my elder and younger brothers have expired."

"Small pending bills, pending since 2012, 2013, 2014 before we came to power, the contracts were awarded when we were not in the government, the payments were paid when we were not in the government. Only I was told that some 20-30 per cent of payments were remaining which NEEPCO is not releasing. So I wrote a letter to the Power Minister that just look into the matter, that's it," Rijiju said.

He also insisted that the pending dues of individual small-time contractors ran into a few thousands of rupees.

The hydel project is being constructed by NEEPC, which comes under the Union Power Ministry.

Rijiju said Power Minister Piyush Goyal wrote back to him saying the delay in clearing the dues of the contractors was on account of "incomplete submission of bills". "The matter ended there," Rijiju said.

Surjewala also played out a purported audio conversation between Goboi and Verma, claiming it had a mention of the goings on that led to the pulling down of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh.

He claimed Rijiju's relative was clearly attempting to influence the CVO in the 28-minute tape and was using his Minister's name to seek his help in getting the bills cleared and was also enticing him with a promotion.

"There seems to be a connection with making of these payments and were some of these payments used to buy and sell legislators is a matter that needs to be seriously probed," he said.

Alleging that "inflated" bills were put up for bringing boulders for the dam construction, he said some of the huge boulders were shown to be carried on scooters, motorcyles and cars by a single driver at the same time.

BJP, meanwhile, sprang to Rijiju's defence, calling the charge against him as reflective of Congress' "political desperation".

It also trained its guns on Satish Verma, calling him a "political fixer for Congress".

Verma, who was also associated with the CBI team which probed the Ishrat Jahan case and had reportedly called it a "cold blooded murder", was shifted out as NEEPCO's Chief Vigilance Officer earlier this year on charge of "unauthorised absence". He was shifted to CRPF in Tripura, an order which he has reportedly challenged in the Central Administrative Tribunal.

BJP spokesman G V L Narasimha Rao claimed Verma was transferred from NEEPCO on the direction of the Central Vigilance Commission over "misdemeanours and derelection of duty".

"Congress party is incriminating itself by referring to any irregularities in these projects. Under Rahul Gandhi, it and its media department have scored many self goals and this is one of such instances," Rao said in a statement.

"The MP forwarded the petition received from the affected villagers to the Ministry of Power for getting the matter examined. As a public representative, Kiren Rijiju intervened as a local MP to redress people's grievances purely on merit," Rao said.

"The allegations made by the CVO against Kiren Rijiju are baseless, malafide and reinforce his shady past. For the Congress party to make allegations based on such flimsy reports reflects its political pusillanimity and desperation. BJP categorically rejects these motivated allegations with the contempt they deserve," Rao said.

BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma also insisted that the contractor, who is at the centre of allegations, is not Rijiju's cousin as alleged.

"It is a completely baseless charge. Congress and its friends have hatched a conspiracy to target BJP as they have not been able to find a single case of corruption against our government," he said.

In his report, Verma said though the CBI conducted two "surprise" inspections, it did not file any FIR in connection with the alleged scam.

Targeting the CBI, Surjewala alleged that the premier investigation agency has become a "puppet" in the hands of the Modi government and has not even registered an FIR in the matter despite the report by the vigilance officer.

"If PM has courage of conviction, he must either sack Kiren Rijiju or ask him to resign and conduct a fair and free probe so that truth comes out...Till then, Rijiju should be divested of his post."

"The Prime in the run up to elections used to say that he will neither do or allow corruption to happen. But there have been a series of charges of corruption that came to light in the Modi government," he said.

Payments to the main contractor Patel Engineering was stopped on the recommendation from Verma.

Aam Aadmi Party also demanded Rijiju's sacking for "trying to sweep under the carpet", the alleged Rs 450-crore power scam.

Addressing a press conference, party leader Ashish Khetan said the Minister of State for Home Affairs not only wrote a letter to Power Minister Piyush Goyal to release funds of contractors in state-run NEEPCO, but also "hid the fact that his brother was a sub-contractor in it".

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf— Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.

Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here— the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.

BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.

Speculations are rife that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.

On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.

Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.

BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.

After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.

The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.

It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats— Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.

Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.

Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."

Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "Workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 21: Election Commission (EC) on Thursday directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of Narendra Modi-led government to put an end to bulk WhatsApp messages labelled 'Viksit Bharat Sampark.' It has also sought a compliance report immediately from the ministry.

EC had received several complaints that such messages are still being delivered on citizens’ phones despite the announcement of Lok Sabha elections and the model code of conduct (MCC) entering into force.

In response, the govt informed the commission that although the letters were sent out before MCC came into force, some of them could have possibly been delivered to recipients with a delay because of systemic and network limitations.

In the past few days, several WhatsApp users have received messages from 'Viksit Bharat Sampark' seeking feedback and suggestions from the public. 

The message comes with a PDF that has a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, Matru Vandana Yojana, etc, and seeking suggestions from the citizens over government initiatives and schemes.

The letter which addresses users as 'my dear family members' had sparked political controversy. Congress has called the PDF file attached with the message a ‘political propaganda’.

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News Network
March 26,2024

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Hyderabad: The K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi faces big questions as shocking allegations of state police officers tapping the phones of then Opposition leaders in Telangana, including current Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, celebrities and businessmen come to the fore.

The surveillance, it is alleged, was also used to blackmail businessmen into contributing huge amounts to the BRS party fund.

The BRS is yet to respond to the allegations.

Three senior police officers have been arrested in this connection and a lookout notice issued against T Prabhakar Rao, former chief of the state intelligence bureau, who is reportedly in the US now.

Police have said two senior officers - Additional Superintendent of Police Bhujanga Rao and Additional Superintendent of Police Thirupathanna - have admitted to illegal surveillance and destruction of evidence.

According to reports, Ravi Paul, a technical consultant with the state intelligence bureau under the then BRS government, had allegedly helped import and set up phone-tapping equipment near the residence of Mr Reddy to listen in on his conversations.

The equipment, it is alleged, was imported from Israel using a software company as the front. No permission from the Centre - a must for such imports - was taken, it is learnt. With this setup, anything spoken within a range of 300 metres could be heard, reports say.

Ravi Paul, it is alleged, set up an office near Mr Reddy's residence and installed the device. Police are set to question him in this connection.

Lookout notices have also been issued for Sharvan Rao, who runs a Telugu TV channel I News, and Radha Kishan Rao, a police officer with the city task force.

The surveillance was not restricted to Opposition leaders. Top businessmen, including real estate dealers and jewellers, and celebrities were also under surveillance. In fact, the tapping of phone conversations led to the divorce of a celebrity couple, reports say.

To add to the BRS's troubles, Chief Minister Reddy has received a complaint from Sharan Chaudhary, a businessman and a BJP leader, alleging that senior police officers kidnapped him last year and forced him to sign off a plot of land to a relative of former minister and BRS leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao.

Mr Chaudhury has alleged that Radha Kishan Rao and senior police officer ACP Umamaheswara Rao kidnapped him on August 21 while he was on his way to office. He has alleged that he was illegally detained and forced to register his property in the name of Vijay, a close relative of the minister. He was also forced to pay ₹ 50 lakh before they let him go.

The businessman has said he had approached the High Court after the incident, but Uma Maheshwar Rao threatened to file false cases against him and forced him to withdraw the petition.

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