UP govt invested UPPCL employees' hard-earned money in 'dubious' company: Priyanka Gandhi

Hitting out at the Uttar Pradesh government over the EPF scam, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday accused the state's BJP-led dispensation of investing the hard-earned money of UPPCL's employees in "dubious" companies.

She said "catching the small fish to deviate attention" will not do and the real culprits should be exposed.

According to a statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday, Rs 2,631.20 crore of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited's (UPPCL) employees' provident fund (EPF) was invested into the scam-hit Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL).

This was done by Praveen Kumar Gupta, former secretary of the Uttar Pradesh State Power Employees Trust and the Provident Fund Trust of the UPPCL, and Sudhanshu Dwivedi, the former director, finance, beginning March 2017, the statement said.

Both of them were arrested on Saturday.

"The money belongs to the (UPPCL) employees and the decision to invest their money in a dubious company is that of the government. Who is guilty?" Priyanka Gandhi asked in a series of tweets in Hindi.

"In Uttar Pradesh, the lifetime earnings of power department employees was trapped by the BJP government by investing them in DHFL. During elections, all government employees had apprised me of their concerns over the new pension scheme. Today, their doubts are turning out to be true," she said.

As per the documents available, Gupta was looking after the CPF and the General Provident Fund (GPF) trust, the Uttar Pradesh government's statement said.

In 2016, on a proposal by Gupta, an approval was given by Dwivedi and A P Mishra, the then managing director, that the GPF and CPF be invested in PNB Housing, it said.

After this, in 2017, Gupta and Dwivedi started investing the money in DHFL without bringing the matter in the knowledge of the managing director, it added.

"Catching the small fish to divert attention will not do, the real culprits will have to be exposed," Priyanka Gandhi said.

"What answer will you give to the person who faithfully put his lifetime earnings in your hands? Hard-earned money of employees of how many other departments have you invested in such dubious companies?" she asked.