Cong seeks Shah panel report on graft charges; stages walkout

Opposition Congress today staged a walkout from Gujarat Assembly demanding tabling of the report of Justice M B Shah Commission which was set up to probe charges of corruption and irregularities against BJP dispensation in the state.
The commission had been set up in 2011 during Narendra Modi's tenure as Chief Minister, to probe 17 charges of corruption levelled by Congress against his government.
Congress had questioned several land allotments and alleged that the BJP government favoured certain industrial houses. It had also alleged corruption in state's Sujlam Suflam Yojana (SSY), a water supply scheme.
While discussing on the issue of SSY during the Question Hour today, Congress MLA and party chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput raised the issue of Shah Commission report.

Rajput asked the Minister of State for Water Resources Nanu Vanani to provide details regarding the complaints of corruption received by the government over SSY.
When Vanani replied that the government has not received any such complaint in this regard so far, the 50-odd Congress MLAs go up from their seats shouting slogans against government and saying that the state was hiding the facts about charges of corruption in the past.

Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela asked the government about the status of M B Shah Commission report and demanded that it should be tabled in the House soon.
The Commission had submitted its first report to the state government in September 2012, while the final report was filed at the end of 2013.

"There were allegations of corruption of more than Rs 1,200 crore in that project. Though so many years have passed, why the government is not making the report public? People of Gujarat want to know what is there in the report, which is lying with the government since long," said Vaghela.
Vaghela then led the Congress members to walkout when they did not get any "satisfactory" answer from the treasury benches.