Congress, BJP spar over ex-CAG's revelations

A political row has erupted over former comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai's revelations that the UPA government put pressure on him to delete names from audit reports on coal block allocations and Commonwealth Games scams.

The Congress has questioned its timing and the BJP has asked the party to reveal the names of those who tried to influence Rai. "Why didn't the former CAG bring out these facts in public domain while he was in office? If at all, he was under any pressure or he was being coerced either obliquely, directly, implicitly that certain people be named and others deleted, was it not incumbent upon him to make it public at that point of time," Congress leader Manish Tewari asked.

Accusing Rai with sensationalism, Tiwari said Rai was perhaps "saving these little nuggets of sensationalism for what is a post-retirement pension plan these days — that you write and create enough sensationalism around it".

The BJP cashed in on Rai's revelations saying it vindicated its stand that the UPA misused constitutional bodies. "We want the Congress to reveal the names of those who were putting pressure on the former CAG. Who were those people who had established contacts with Vinod Rai and went to his home?", party spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri told reporters.

Rai had claimed that UPA functionaries had deputed politicians to get him leave out names from the audit reports in the coal blocks allocation and Commonwealth Games scams. He said they had roped in even his colleagues in the IAS, to which he belonged before his appointment as CAG, to persuade him to leave out names.