Tarun Gogoi dismisses resignation demand

Says Opposition parties have no moral rights to demand his resignation over the chit fund scam in Assam

Unfazed by the demands of his resignation, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said the opposition parties - Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), BJP and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have no moral rights to demand his resignation over the chit fund scam in the state.

Gogoi said the opposition parties and the ULFA, which have upped their ante against him over the chit fund scam, have "suddenly woken up" from deep slumber". "The AGP, BJP and the ULFA are now raising a hullabaloo over the chit fund scam and demanding my resignation. Why did they maintain a stony silence even though they were aware of the developments," he said. "Now when we brought the matters to the fore by initiating investigation by the CID against the chit fund companies for duping gullible public and moving the CBI to take over the cases, they are now blaming us squarely. Why did they not raise it before despite being aware of the developments? Who knows they may be hobnobbing with the chit fund companies that are now under the scanner. Only time will tell," Gogoi added.

Coming down heavily on the AGP, Gogoi said, "The leaders of the AGP are criticising me over the chit fund scam and demanding my resignation. They have no moral right to demand my resignation when their own leader now heading the party Prafulla Kumar Mahanta himself was found to have prima facie case against him in the Letter of Credit (LoC) scam and charge sheeted. These so-called leaders did not dare to demand his resignation. On the contrary they meekly accepted his leadership."

Gogoi said that the state government moved the CBI to get to the bottom of the truth and to expose the misdeeds of the persons behind it. "We asked the CBI over the phone to take over the cases relating to the chit fund companies, for which the investigating agency is now in Guwahati. The process is on to hand over the cases to the agency. All the formalities would be completed in the next two-three days," he said. He also ruled out that there were any delays in acting vis-a-vis the Saradha scam. He said Assam government's promptness in action was even better that neighbouring state of West Bengal.