A person’s ability to tweet against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is the sole criterion for getting a berth in the Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet, party spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged on Tuesday. His remark came amid speculations of a Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre.
“In the Union Cabinet, the only eligibility criterion that Narendra Modi understands for ministers to get high-ranked berths, is how many tweets they can post against Rahul Gandhi,” Khera said at a press conference. “Their promotion depends on this. What they are doing for their country, their department, their government, or even their mandate does not matter for this government.”
Khera was briefing the media on corruption allegations against two leaders – one of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and another from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last month, the Congress had released audio and video recordings claiming they revealed the involvement of Nimba Ram, an RSS leader from Jaipur, and BJP’s Rajaram Gurjar, negotiating a commission with a company, reported the Hindustan Times. The former BJP government in Rajasthan had given the company, BVG India Limited, a waste management contract.
The tapes, believed to be made by Omkar Sapre, the head of corporate administration at BVG and another member of the company, Sandeep Chaudhary, allegedly showed discussions about a Rs 20 crore bribe for releasing Rs 270 crore dues to the company, which was withheld by the BJP-controlled Jaipur Greater Corporation, reported India Today.
On June 30, Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau arrested Gurjar, the husband of mayor of BJP-controlled Jaipur Greater municipal corporation, Somya Gurjar. Sapre was also arrested and Nimba Ram was booked in a corruption case, based on the recordings.
On Tuesday, Khera narrated the developments of the case lodged under the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 12B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Khera asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi if BVG India was involved in some work for his or other offices in his government. He also questioned if the same kind of “arm-twisting” was done with other such companies to “enrich the pockets of the BJP”.
Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Khera said the country was “waiting and watching” what actions he would take against “[Nimba] Ram”. The spokesperson wondered if all offices of the BJP and RSS that were being funded by “corrupt money”.
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