Bastar: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and said he has not resigned even though his “family’s name” figured in the Panama Papers.
“Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to resign because his name figured in the Panama Papers. Here the name of Chief Minister’s family also figured in Panama Papers, but he (Raman Singh) didn’t resign,” Congress Gandhi said while addressing “Jan Adhikar” rally here.
“How can he resign? He is the leader of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party),” Gandhi said.
The Congress had targeted Raman Singh earlier also citing an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leak and said that “name of Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh figured in it”.
The list spelt his name as “Abhishak Singh”, with “a” replacing “e” in his first name. A company — Quest Heights Ltd — was said to be registered in the name of “Abhishak Singh”.
Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said: “He speaks over corruption but he cannot see the corruption of his own leaders.”
Gandhi said that in Chhattisgarh, the government was busy snatching the rights of the people of the state.
“I can see only one thing happening here, whether it is land, water or forest, whatever belongs to you is now being snatched by the government,” he said.
Gandhi also accused the BJP and the RSS of trying to end the reservations by using the tool of “outsourcing”.
“RSS and BJP are trying to end reservations. They are using the word ‘outsourcing’ to end reservations from the backdoor,” he said.
In Chattisgarh, everyone could get employment but the people of the state, he added.
The Congress Vice President asked the people whether they had the the merit to get a job in their own state. “Do only people from Maharashtra know how to work in Chattisgarh?”
The Congress leader also accused the state government of telling a lie about building a steel plant in Bastar only to acquire land.
“They acquired your land saying that we would construct a steel plant here, and many of you will get employment. But later you came to know that the plant was not coming,” he pointed out.
“And to date, the people have not got their land back,” he added.
