‘PM’s Corruption Pitch Hollow’: Jairam Ramesh Says I.N.D.I.A. Bloc Intact, To Cross 272 Seats

The INDIA bloc is intact despite Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “somersault” and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee deciding to be Mamata Banerjee, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said while rejecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch against the opposition on corruption as “hollow”.

Jairam Ramesh also said the opposition will unitedly cross the halfway mark of 272 in the elections and oust the BJP from power, according to PTI.

Speaking on the issue of electoral bonds, the Congress leader said, “Look at the way the electoral bonds scheme has worked. Rs 4,000-crore of bonds are directly linked with Rs 4-lakh crore of contracts. There is a clear correlation between the electoral bonds and the award of contracts.”

He further claimed that a BJP MP buys electoral bonds after getting infrastructure contracts.

Ramesh said he has evidence that bonds worth Rs 4,000 crores purchased by several companies in favour of the BJP are directly linked to the award of contracts and action initiated by central agencies against them, as per PTI.

“To say that Mr Modi is going to take the corruption plank and use Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal as examples that he is fighting corruption is absolutely a bogus argument. Look at the electoral bonds saga, it is a complete case of quid pro quo,” the Congress leader said.

He added that there is ample evidence to show that the corruption is a ‘khokhla (hollow) plank’ as far as Modi is concerned.

On opposition unity, Jairam Ramesh said all 28 parties were together up to December 19 “but Nitish Kumar did a somersault and Mamata Banerjee decided to be Mamata Banerjee. These are the two things that have happened”.

“The fact that Nitish Kumar is not part of the INDIA bloc does not mean that the INDIA bloc has collapsed,” Ramesh said adding that the opposition will certainly cross the halfway mark.

“Yes, I’m sure that it will add up to 272,” he added.

He also said that the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party is intact as is the tie-up with the NCP, Shiv Sena, the DMK and JMM.

“Our alliance with CPM and CPI is going to be finalised in West Bengal. We have an 11-party alliance in Assam and we have an alliance with the Samajwadi Party,” he said.

“Mamata Banerjee has said that she is part of the INDIA bloc. She is not seat-sharing with us, but she is very much part of the INDIA bloc,” he said.

On opposition parties, including the Congress, also getting donation worth crores of rupees through electoral bonds, he said they do not have central probe agencies and cannot grant central contracts to companies.

“There is clear evidence that we have put out which shows there are 30 companies against whom ED and CBI was used and Rs 330-crore worth donations came through these 30 companies,” he added.

On whether Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest Amethi and Rae Bareli seats respectively or have they abandoned their family pocket boroughs in Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh said, “Rahul Gandhi had said that he is a loyal soldier of the party and if the CEC asks him to contest, he will do so.”

Asked whether the Congress was looking beyond Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, Ramesh said the Gandhi scion is there and is leading the organisation and has undertaken the Bharat Jodo Yatras, which no other leader in the country has.

On the Congress’s counter to the BJP’s Ram temple issue, Ramesh said, “There cannot be one strategy, there can’t be a ‘jadu ki chhadi’ (magic wand). We cannot generate a counter.” The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will be held between April 19 and June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.