Cong’s allegations against new ministers baseless, says Jaitley
11 Nov 2014 6:18 AM IST
Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday rubbished the allegations hurled by Congress against prime minister Narendra Modi’s freshly expanded cabinet as ‘baseless.’.’Who should be taken into Cabinet is prerogative of the prime minister. In the UPA, the PM didn’t have the last word in formation or expansion of the cabinet. In the NDA, the trend is completely different. The PM has the last word and he takes a decision taking into consideration all facts,’ said Jaitley, who has also taken over as the new Information and Broadcasting minister. Jaitley said that Modi had ‘checked credentials of each who was sworn in.’
Jaitley countered each of allegations made by Congress leader Ajay Maken. On the Congress’ allegation that new minister from Uttar Pradesh Ram Shankar Katheria has a record of 23 cases against him, Jaitley said, ‘All BJP members in UP has criminal cases against them by state government; they are political cases, not due to moral turpitude issues.’ Such charges, he said, were not expected from a national party, adding, ‘It seems the Congress is not left with political issues.’
The Congress’ Ajay Maken has accused the PM of including ‘tainted ministers in the government in contrast to his election rhetoric of ridding Parliament of criminals.’ AICC General Secretary Ajay Maken targeted new ministers like TDP’s YS Chowdary and the BJP’s Ram Shankar Katheria, Giriraj Singh and JP Nadda and claimed that with the induction of what he called controversial new ministers yesterday, ‘the number of tainted ministers has gone up to 15 or 16 out of the 66.’
‘Congress wants to know from Modi why there is hiatus between words and deeds. You talk of cleaning Parliament of criminals, but (you) go on inducting tainted ministers,’ Maken said.
Jaitley countered each of allegations made by Congress leader Ajay Maken. On the Congress’ allegation that new minister from Uttar Pradesh Ram Shankar Katheria has a record of 23 cases against him, Jaitley said, ‘All BJP members in UP has criminal cases against them by state government; they are political cases, not due to moral turpitude issues.’ Such charges, he said, were not expected from a national party, adding, ‘It seems the Congress is not left with political issues.’
The Congress’ Ajay Maken has accused the PM of including ‘tainted ministers in the government in contrast to his election rhetoric of ridding Parliament of criminals.’ AICC General Secretary Ajay Maken targeted new ministers like TDP’s YS Chowdary and the BJP’s Ram Shankar Katheria, Giriraj Singh and JP Nadda and claimed that with the induction of what he called controversial new ministers yesterday, ‘the number of tainted ministers has gone up to 15 or 16 out of the 66.’
‘Congress wants to know from Modi why there is hiatus between words and deeds. You talk of cleaning Parliament of criminals, but (you) go on inducting tainted ministers,’ Maken said.
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