Former Puducherry CM challenges Amit Shah to give proof of corruption during Congress government

Former Chief Minister and Congress leader V. Narayanasamy has challenged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide proof for the ₹ 15,000 crore corruption charges he levelled against him while addressing a public meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Karaikal, one of the enclaves of Puducherry, last week.

Addressing a press conference along with Member of Parliament and president of Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee V. Vaithilingam here on Monday, he said Mr. Shah blatantly lied to the people of Karaikal. The Home Minister, in his address, had accused the previous Congress government headed by Mr. Narayanasamy of corruption to the tune of ₹ 15,000 crore and serving as an “ATM of party high command.”

“Mr Shah is not an ordinary politician from the BJP. He is the Home Minister holding a position next to the Prime Minister of the country. A person of his stature cannot make irresponsible statements. It is regrettable that the Home Minister lied to the people of Karaikal, “he said. 

Mr. Narayanasamy said he was ready for any kind of investigation by the Central agencies. “The Home Minister should either provide proof or else should resign for lying to the people of Karaikal,” the former Chief Minister said.

Supporting Mr. Narayanasamy’s demand, Mr. Vaithilingam said the Home Minister has levelled unsubstantiated charges to hide the misdeeds of the AINRC-BJP government in the Union Territory. The Congress had exposed corruption, including the ₹10,000 crore counterfeit drug manufacturing case of the Puducherry government, he added.

“Mr. Shah is the Home Minister. Why did he wait for five years to raise these charges against the previous Congress government? He had five years to launch an investigation if there was corruption in our government,” he said. 

Recalling the support extended by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to DMK members’ suggestion of boycotting the Assembly polls for Puducherry’s Statehood demand in the recent one-day session of the Legislative Assembly, the PPCC leader said Mr. Rangasamy should have taken up the cause of Statehood when he met Mr. Shah at Karaikal on Saturday.

“The Chief Minister spoke for Statehood in the Assembly, but when he met the Home Minister he forgot to take up the issue. He merely demanded seats for his party in the NDA bloc for the Assembly polls and returned. He should have stuck to his demand for Statehood in the meeting with the Home Minister,” he said.

When asked whether his party’s alliance with DMK was intact for Assembly polls, he said the AICC had only constituted a committee for seat-sharing talks in Tamil Nadu. The AICC was yet to constitute a committee for talks with DMK in Puducherry.