Congress accuses Sanjeev Balyan of misusing his position

The Congress' recation came after emails were sent from the minister's office to a few companies, asking for funds for his 'niece'

The Congress Party on Wednesday accused Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan of misusing his position and said the latest revelation contradicts the stand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"It has been exposed now that Sanjeev Balyan is asking for funds from the companies for his niece. Narendra Modi says there is no complaint here. Now these types of matters are getting exposed. Even Sushma Swaraj had admitted her nephew in a University in England. She misused her position. These are matters of concern," Congress leader P L Punia said.

The Congress' recation came after emails were sent from the minister's office to a few venture capital firms requesting them for an appointment to discuss the issue of raising funds to enable his 'niece' Monika Balyan launch an application called 'A Start-up Company'.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev Balyan's office employee Sumit Arora attempted to downplay the entire controversy and took the blame on himself.

"I had done that when the minister was not present in office. Monika came and she claimed to be the niece of the minister. I followed her instruction without the approval of the honourable minister. That is mistake on my part," Arora told ANI.

He said it was his mistake as he did not cross check from the minister before sending the emails.

"It is communication gap. When I realised my fault, I apologised and asked them not to take any action on the mail as it was not approved by the minister. I was badly scolded by the minister as he had not approved it. I accepted my mistake and said 'I won't repeat it again," he added.