Cong disrupts RS; Gadkari says no charge against him

The Rajya Sabha failed to transact any significant business on Monday as Congress members repeatedly created ruckus by pressing for resignation of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, even as he insisted that there was no corruption or misappropriation charge against him.

Gadkari said the auditor's report on the matter was "deliberately being misinterpreted for political reasons."

Gadkari, who is at the centre of a row after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report alleged irregularities in loan extended to his family-linked Purti Group, said the auditor had nowhere named him as a wrong-doer.

However, his statement failed to satisfy Congress members, who continued to shout slogans and stalled proceedings of the upper house, which had to be adjourned repeatedly before the final call at around 4 pm.

Reading out a statement, he said, "My respectful submission before this august House is that let us follow the established procedure in the matter of CAG reports and if any wrong-doing is established by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which will be discussing the CAG report in due course of time, the law should take its own course."

The Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping maintained that "The CAG has nowhere named me as a wrong-doer nor there is any adverse comment against me. There is neither any indictment nor any charge of corruption or misappropriation against me of the PSKL (Purti Sakhar Karkhana Ltd)."

He said the principal loan amount of Rs 46.6 crore was provided by state-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda) to Purti Group for a 22-Mw bagasse-based power plant in Nagpur and major part of the interest has been repaid.

Noting that he was Chairman of PSKL from 2000 to 2011, he said he was neither an MP nor held any public office in government when the 13-year loan was extended to the firm in 2008-09.

"The Audit report alleges lapses/irregularities in procedures followed by Ireda, which were explained in detail by Ireda and comments of the CAG are not acceptable to Ireda," Gadkari said.

"PSKL has not committed any misappropriation nor has it misrepresented any facts before IREDA. The audit report does not allege any such conduct," claimed the minister whose family is linked to the company.

But Congress members were not satisfied with his statement and continued to shout slogans even as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi asserted that Gadkari would not resign.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said Gadkari, in his statement, had not talked about himself and Congress was not at all happy with his reply.

The Congress leader said the loan was granted to the company from Ireda on the condition that 75 per cent of the energy had to be generated from renewable sources while they were allowed to raise only up to 25 per cent from other sources like hydro and thermal.

The company, however, chose to generate 100 per cent energy from coal itself, Azad alleged, adding "this is a big cheating and separate cases can be lodged for this."

He wondered: "how can you change it, when you get a loan for a particular project? The wrong was done in the very beginning. Then the project was declared an non-performing asset (NPA). How can you take a loan after that..after declaring it an NPA? Our party does not accept it.

"On the same issue, he was removed as president of his party earlier, even as he wanted to continue in the post till the last moment. Our party is not at all satisfied with his reply. He will have to resign."