After several attacks on the central government and the ruling Congress, anti-graft activist Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday unleashed an attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, charging him with gross misuse of office.
Among the various charges he made against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was the deal, already reported in other sections of the media, between the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and GeoGlobal Resources, a Canada-headquartered transnational corporation, with favours allegedly granted to the latter at huge cost to the public exchequer. Another company he named in this regard was Jubilant Enpro.
While Modi has been defending himself on these charges, Kejriwal on Tuesday said GSPC which acquired gas blocks in the Krishna-Godavari basin in 2002, entered into agreements with these two companies giving away 10 per cent participating interest to each, free of cost. Drawing on the charges already aired in the media, he said GeoGlobal was incorporated just six days before its agreement with GSPC and on the day of agreement, its total capital was only $64. Kejriwal also raised questions about its owner. “A man comes from Canada with just Rs 3,200 and in six days finds himself signing a deal of Rs 10,000 crore with the Gujarat government. If we dig deep into this, it may yield a scam worse than 2G spectrum,’’ said Kejriwal.
He also referred to adverse remarks on these issues by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. Kejriwal went into details on the deals in question. And, in the process, lashed out at Modi and the BJP and the ruling UPA government as well, noting all the agreements in question were signed with a Congress-led government in power. The Modi government, he said, had second thoughts and wanted to annul the deal with GeoGlobal but its request had been pending with the Centre for more than three years. Also, the second company that Modi allegedly favoured was owned by the husband of a media tycoon and reported friend of the Congress party. “Why would Modi shower such favours on a Congress supported?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Jubilant Energy in a press statement denied the charge made by Kejriwal of a gift of 10 per cent participating interest in a gas block.
