Probe tainted BJP ministers, demands Left

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

The Left parties today demanded a judiciary monitored investigation into alleged “corruption” by BJP ministers, including the case surrounding IPL former chief Lalit Modi.

The Left’s show of unity comes at a time when it struggles to find a footing in its eroded base following the 2014 poll debacle. The parties now feel they need to consolidate at the grass-roots level in states.

The six parties — the CPM, CPI, AIFB, RSP, CPI(ML)-Liberation and SUCI(I) — met today and upped the ante against the Narendra Modi government and BJP governments in states demanding their removal until investigations against them were over.

Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat (CPM); Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja (CPI); Dipankar Bhattacharya and Swapan Mukherjee (CPI-ML); G Dvarajan (AIFB); and Satyawan and Pran Sharma (SUCI-C) attended the meeting.

A communiqué later said questionable acts of ministers had “exposed” the claims of the Modi government of having corruption-free administration during the first year of NDA regime.

It alleged misuse of office by Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani had given a false statement regarding her educational qualification, it said.