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Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday he would quit as minister and Member of Parliament if the allegations made in a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report were proved true. He said in the Rajya Sabha: "If it is proved in any court of the world that I have done corruption worth even Rs 1, I am ready to quit, not only from the ministership but also as an MP."
His comments came as the Congress-led Opposition attempted to put the government on the mat over the CAG report saying there were irregularities in a loan given to the Purti group, in which he was once a board member. The Congress has been disrupting proceedings in the House since three days.
It persisted with its demand for a free and impartial probe, pending which the minister should resign. The House again witnessed several adjournments on Tuesday. In the post-lunch session, Gadkari repeated the statement he had made on Monday on the floor of the House.
"I have not taken one rupee subsidy," he said. "No favour was done to us. There is no allegation of corruption against me in the CAG report. The CAG report is being distorted and people are being misled for political opportunism."
The company, the CAG had held, was sanctioned a loan of Rs 84.12 crore by the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in "violation of guidelines". Only a part of it could be recovered, it had said.
Gadkari said, "At that time I was not a minister, the BJP president or even an MP.... Maximum loan was given by IREDA to our companies. Your party was in government them. The CAG report is not against me but against IREDA. In a way, it is a report against a government of your department."
Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said the "strategy" of the Congress to stall the House was apparent. There was considerable disturbance and members sought clarifications from the minister. Congress' Pramod Tewari the company had promised to generate electricity from bagasse but ended up generating power from coal. "If this is not fraud, what is."
After other MPs had asked for clarifications, the Congress walked out, saying they were not satisfied with the minister's reply. "An impression is being created that we are raising the CAG report to stall the passage of other Bills in the House. The impression is wrong. We are unsatisfied with the minister's reply and are walking out," Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
