‘Lot to hide’: Arun Jaitley hits back at Mamata, Chandrababu Naidu

Bhopal, Nov 17: In a scathing attack on West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh governments for withdrawing consent to CBI for investigating corruption cases in their states, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday said those who had a lot to hide would fear the central agency.

He was speaking to reporters here after releasing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) manifesto for the November 28 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

"We have a federal structure in India. Under that federal structure, the CBI was created initially for employees of the central government and then to investigate several kinds of serious cases in the states which were referred to it either by states or by courts. CBI can't snatch any case," Jaitley said.

"It is only those who have a lot to hide will take the step of saying let the CBI not come to my state. There is no sovereignty of any state in the matter of corruption," Jaitley said in response to a query. "It is believed that Andhra's move is not motivated by any particular case, but by the fear of what is likely to happen. I am not saying anything more than that at the moment," he added.

The Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal governments have withdrawn their "general consent" to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct raids and investigations.

The agency would now need permission from the respective state governments to carry out any investigation in these states, except those ordered by the courts and against central government officials.