'Oppn parties paid to remain silent'

They are mum on gas price hike: Kejri

Sparking another controversy Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused the opposition parties of being paid by the Reliance Industries to remain silent on the natural gas price rise.

While describing the FIRs he has ordered against the Congress top shots, Mukesh Ambani and a former bureaucrat, he accused the parties of ignoring the issue and raised suspicion over the timing of next scheduled price hike.

“The government fixed the date of April 1, 2014 for the hike in natural gas rates. It falls just before Lok Sabha elections. I am also surprised to see that none of the opposition parties ever tried to raise this issue,” he said.

The role of opposition and government is suspicious and the timing indicates that they might have been paid to keep mum. Despite of the report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) of May 2012 which questioned the Reliance Industries, the opposition remained silent and the Congress government revised the rates of gases whenever they wanted, he added.

“The impact of this hike in gas price would cost the country a minimum of Rs 54,500 crore every year, and in addition to this the Central government allowed the RIL to make a future windfall profit of Rs 1.2 lakh crore,” he said.

He also accused the Congress government for showing the door to two ministers who refused to work according to the Reliance Industries demands.

“During last 10 years, two Petroleum Ministers – Mani Shankar Aiyar and S Jaipal Reddy – were shifted as they created trouble for Reliance Industries and refused to work according to them,” he added.

BJP slams Chief Minister

The Delhi BJP slammed Kejriwal for one sided action on corruption. Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel said all efforts of Kejriwal are towards getting maximum political mileage through controversies in the run up to Lok Sabha polls.

“If the chief minister can order FIRs with names in case of gas prices which appear to be beyond his jurisdiction, what is stopping him from naming former Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and other Congress leaders in CWG scams? Why have FIRs without names been filed in these cases?” he said.

“Kejriwal is trying to put a façade of honesty when two of his ministers – Somnath Bharti and Manish Sisodia – are corrupt and have indulged in unethical practices. Why is Kejriwal protecting them? It is clear that Kejriwal is trying to divert attention of people from issues of governance as he has failed to deliver on this front,” said Goel.

Delhi BJP Legislature Party chief Harsh Vardhan said corruption in every sphere should be checked, but Kejriwal should also give some time to other problems in the city.

“He should devote at least one hour out of 24-hour on issues related to water and power problems in unauthorised colonies and rural areas,” he said.