Cong mulls outreach on PNB scam

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 23

The Congress is contemplating mass public outreach on the unfolding of PNB scam and hopes the anti-scam sentiment will take the shape of mass action.

Top Congress leaders will meet soon to devise a formal strategy on the response to the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi-led bank fraud.

The party insists it has not yet decided whether to press for joint parliamentary committee to probe the issue, though the matter is serious enough to warrant an aggressive national offensive against the government.

“We have not yet taken an internal call on what our parliament strategy on the issue will be. We will meet soon to discuss that and only then will we talk to the other opposition parties. All talk about the Congress demanding a JPC probe into the matter is, as of today, speculation. The issue warrants mass action across India. Like demonetisation, this bank fraud has the potential to wreck people’s lives,” a top Congress leader told The Tribune today.

The party is convinced the PNB scam will find a resonance among people, becoming a centre point of anti-BJP campaign going forward.

“Unlike the past when scams did not seem to stick to the BJP, this one is sticking which is why the government is so edgy,” said Gujarat Congress leader Shakti Sinh Gohil who has dug out several papers on the matter. The Congress previously unsuccessfully tried to corner PM Narendra Modi-led BJP government on scams like Vyapam, alleged connections Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had with the absconding ex-IPL boss Lalit Modi; Panama Papers allegations against Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh’s son, Gujarat Petroleum Corporation scam and most recently the Rafale deal.

Meanwhile, the party today alleged hundreds of people in Gujarat had filed complaints starting 2015 against Gitanjali Gems for cheating them of money in a chit fund scam.

Gohil presented papers to show that despite standing complaints against Choksi’s firm, the wife of Maharashtra CM and the daughter of then Gujarat CM appeared in events hosted by Choksi.

Gohil also spoke of how in January 2017 the Vibrant Gujarat summit projected Gitanjali Gems as a “potential collaborator for investors” despite standing police complaints against Choksi.

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• The actor had appeared in a TV commercial for the brand along with Sidharth Malhotra. Sidharth had earlier said that since his contract with the brand was already over, he would not seek any legal action PTI

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