Cong revives attack on Cong over GSPC 'scam'

Reviving the attack over the Rs 20,000 crore alleged GSPC scam, Congress today alleged that Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is "forcing" ONGC to buy GSPC's gas block to "protect" Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Party spokesman Jairam Ramesh told reporters that Pradhan has ordered the "surgical strike" on GSPC through ONGC as the Gujarat government undertaking owes Rs 20,000 crore to 15 banks.
He claimed this was being done so that the GSPC scam will be "hidden" in the books of ONGC, which is a Maharatna public sector undertaking having a net worth of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Insisting that there have been 4 CAG reports on GSPC scam, and yet there have been no comments from the government on them, he said ONGC is being "forced" to purchase GSPC.

"They are being used. This is being done to save GSPC. And hide the GSPC scam," he said, adding, "If we followed the correct norms, norms set by previous RBI Governor, GSPC would have been declared a non performing asset."
He made a strong plea that new RBI Governor Urjit Patel, who had been once on the board of GSPC, should follow the same norms as that of his predecessor on the GSPC issue.

Asked whether the party is planning to move a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court, he said some people were thinking on the lines in the wake of the findings in the CAG reports.

He alleged that Modi as Gujarat chief minister had made GSPC borrow the money after claiming in 2005 that it has found gas of 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf)in the KG basin.
"After 11 years, they have found only 1 tcf of gas", he said.
GSPC, he said, has "squandered" the money and is "bankrupt" and therefore unable to repay. The government, he claimed, is now wanting ONGC to pay "GSPC's loans and Modi's past sins".
Seeking to poke holes in the government's plans, he said while the gas block is Rs 3000 crore, the GSPC has taken a loan of Rs 20000 crore.

"What does ONGC stand to gain from this purchase?" he asked.
Ramesh also sought to know as to on what basis was this decision taken.
"The prime minister talks of transparency, let him say who took the decision and on what basis?"
He also claimed that the Oil minister is asking Indian Oil and GAIL to buy an Adani port in Odisha.
"This is another surgical strike.