Nitin Gadkari should acknowledge Gujarat corruption: Kapil Sibal (24-06-11)


Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal today sought to know why BJP president Nitin Gadkari did not acknowledged civil rights activist Anna Hazare’s charges of corruption in Gujarat.

“BJP president Nitin Gadkari says he is with Anna Hazare. And Anna Hazare says Gujarat is in grip of corruption. So Gadkari should admit corruption in Gujarat and (go on a) fast in Gujarat against corruption," Sibal said at a press conference here.

Asking the BJP to look into how yoga guru Ramdev had 'acquired' government land 'paying peanuts', he asked, “Who gave the land? Is it the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand?... The RSS should admit that they are backing him.”

Reminding the saffron party of the democratic values and their importance to take other developmental initiatives on priority basis, Sibal asked the BJP and the RSS “not to create an atmosphere” in which growth could be blunted.

“For Congress and the UPA, issues like health, right to education, MNREGA, strengthening the public distribution system and the Food Security bill, which is coming up, are the real issues, because these initiatives alone can root out poverty...so they (opposition) should not create any such situation which could blunt financial growth,” Sibal said.
Agency:PTI

2G case: IT department quizzes Raja's relatives (24-06-11)


TIRUCHIRAPPALLI: Relatives of jailed former Union minister A Raja including his wife and brother were today questioned by the Income Tax department.
Raja's wife Parameswari and his brother A Ramachandran besides two other relatives were quizzed at the regional I-T office for about three hours.
Officials were, however, tight-lipped about today's enquiry.
The CBI, which is probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the money trail, had already carried out searches at the premises of Raja's relatives in neighbouring Perambalur, his native district, during its course of investigations.
Raja, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam, has been lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail since February 17.
Agency:PTI