Chhattisgarh polls: Rahul attacks Raman Singh on chit fund, PDS scams

Raipur, Nov 10: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused Chief Minister Raman Singh of direct involvement in Rs 36,000 Crore PDS scam and Rs 5,000 crore chit-fund scam.

Addressing a rally in poll-bound state's Kanker, the Congress chief also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking action against the chief minister's son.

"Modi ji says he's fighting against corruption. But when he comes to Chhattisgarh he doesn't tell you the CM is corrupt. Your Rs 5000 Cr disappeared in chit-fund scam, 310 FIRs were registered but no action was taken because CM was involved," Gandhi said.

"Raman Singh's son's name appears in Panama Papers but no action is taken against him because CM Raman Singh and Modi are corrupt , he said adding that If the CM doesn't want to answer that then he should explain to the people of Chhattisgarh why is no action taken against his son, whose name appeared in Panama papers? In Pakistan the PM is jailed because his name appeared in Panama papers.

Raking up the infamous PDS scam, the Gandhi scion claimed that a diary was recovered during the investigations. In the diary, it was mentioned that "Money was paid to CM madame and Dr Sahab".

"2nd is PDS Scam. Rs 36,000 Cr of the people of Chhattisgarh was looted. Diary mili, diary mein likha tha 'CM Madam ko paisa diya. Dr sahab ko paisa diya.' I ask Raman Singh ji who is this CM Madam and Dr sahab whose names were found in the diary in connection with the scam," he said.

"CM Raman Singh had promised MSP of Rs 2100 for paddy, but today, farmers get only Rs 1500. Congress govt will provide MSP of Rs 2500 for paddy. We will also give bonus to farmers that BJP promised and failed to fulfill," he added.

The campaigning for the first phase will end on Saturday. The first phase on November 12 will see 18 seats of eight Maoist-affected districts go to polls. Of these, 12 are Scheduled Tribe seats while one is a Scheduled Caste-reserved seat.

The remaining 72 constituencies will go to polls on November 20 and counting of votes will be held on December 11. A total of 1,291 candidates are in the fray for the two-phased state polls.