Emotional comment on Sonia Gandhi behind Sahara woes, says Subrata Roy

Sahara Chairman had said that Indian citizen should become prime minister and not someone who had roots outside

The Sahara group, which is at loggerheads with Indian regulators, today said that its current challenges are an outcome of its comment on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

India's central bank and the Security and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) have caused regulatory hurdles for the group since 2008 when the group chairman had said that Indian citizen should be prime minister and not someone whose origins are outside, said Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy.

Replying to a query on why the Sebi picked Roy's group operations, he said, “There are two primary reasons. I become emotional sometimes about my country. I had raised the point that an Indian citizen should be Prime Minister and that translated into RBI action. But now this isn't political and its more about the egos of regulators.”

According to him, India's central bank targeted  his deposit-taking business only after he made the comment about Indian citizen being a Prime Minister. A series of such regulatory attacks forced Roy to shut down his RNBC (residuary non-banking companies ) business, he claimed.

Interestingly, Roy, during the interaction with reporters said some of the states such as Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have done well compared to other states in the country. It may be noted all three states named by Roy, at present, are ruled by BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). He, however, later named UP also to add to the list of states that have done well. The second big reason for the turbulence in the group, via regulators, was due to the fact that it had venture into many high profile sectors and most did not like that. “First generation companies who have grown this big have always faced challenges,”

The group continues to receive deposits under its co-operatives and it currently has about Rs 35,000 crore of public deposits, with fresh collections going up to Rs12,000 crore every year, pointed out. When asked if the regulatory interventions had dented the group's business, Roy said the business, on the contrary, has shown growth. He , however, failed to quantify the growth recently.    

The chairman of the group skirted a question on India's next Prime Minister by saying it's difficult to say who will be good for the country (between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi).      

On West Bengal, Roy said that he was emotionally attached to the state and has many plans to invest in the state. Though the new state government under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee government has not shown keen interest in the group's plan for the state. “I have informed them but there have been no call backs. I suppose, probably, we are not needed here,” he said by adding that former left front government during Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee' s leadership was very proactive.

On Sahara and BCCI

“BCCI was very good and very friendly. We used to  think and work together, but the present president never keeps his promises so why should we take his false ego,” Roy said when asked about bidding for logo sponsorship of BCCI for Indian cricket team's jersey.