Congress seeks union minister's resignation over loan default

The Congress on Saturday demanded the resignation of central minister Y.S. Chowdary for his alleged involvement in default of repayment of a loan to a Mauritius-based bank.

The Congress also hit out at the BJP for appointing B.S. Yeddyurappa as the Karnataka state president and Keshav Prasad Maurya's appointment as the new BJP chief in Uttar Pradesh over their alleged involvement in corruption and criminal cases.

A court on Thursday had issued non-bailable warrants against Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary in a case filed by a Mauritius-based bank for alleged default of repayment of loan.

Chowdary, a non-executive director of Sujana Universal Industries Ltd., is a leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and a member of the Rajya Sabha.

"Before the 2014 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised that he would neither indulge in corruption, nor allow anybody to indulge. Today, he has compromised big time with that idea," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari.

"You have a minister of the union of India, Y.S. Chowdary, (who) is a wilful absconder from the process of law, whom the court has directed that he should be arrested before April 26 and brought before the court," he said.

Chowdary, who is an industrialist, and others have been accused of defaulting in repayment of loan in excess of Rs.106 crore.

The loan was taken for Mauritius-based Hestia Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Chowdary's Sujana Universal Industries Ltd.

"A man allegedly accused of cheating, wilfully trying to evade the process of law, absconding from the process of justice, facing a non-bailable warrant against him, has absolutely no business to continue in the council of ministers. This man should resign or the prime minister should drop him from the council of ministers. This is what our demand is?" said Tiwari.

Hitting out at the BJP for the appointment of Yeddyurappa and Maurya, Tiwari said: "The same person who was held guilty by the Karnataka Lokayukta, who had to go to jail, was appointed the Karnataka state president. This speaks volumes of the BJP's shallow claim about morality. There is a lot of difference between what they say and what they do."

"Maurya ji, who was made the new BJP chief in Uttar Pradesh, has 10 criminal cases against him. This is the true story of the BJP's claim of practising clean politics," he added.