'Congress trying to score political mileage over my statement'

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Sunday said the Congress was trying to score political mileage over his statement on the CBI probe into the chit fund and mining scam in Odisha, by distorting its meaning.

"The Congress leaders seem not to have carefully examined what I have said and also what I later clarified. My contention was that the BJD should have thanked BJP because it did not use CBI the way Congress was using it for political gain," said Oram in a statement.

He said that had the Bharatiya Janata Party misused the Central Bureau of Investigation the way Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had done in the past, there is no doubt the CBI would have finished the Biju Janata Dal government in Odisha.

The minister's statement came after senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and Odisha Congress president Prasad Harichandan launched a scathing attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having a tacit deal with Odisha government to slow the CBI investigation on the chit fund scam.

"I also said even though a section of people are under impression that the probe into these scams by the CBI is slow, the NDA government has never interfered into the activities of the CBI," said Oram.

He said the statement made by Jairam Ramesh and Prasad Harichandan is false, politically motivated and based on distorted facts.

Earlier in the day, Ramesh at a press conference in Delhi said Modi is blatantly misusing the CBI to protect Naveen Patnaik government, rather than letting it investigate and prosecute the guilty.

He demanded Supreme Court monitored probe into the chit fund and mining scams in Odisha.