CAG report questioning KG basin investment:Cong hits out at PM

Congress today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a CAG report that questions the Gujarat government's investment in Krishna Godavari (KG) block project, saying it "exposes the myth of Gujarat model and brand Namo", and demanded that a JPC probe be ordered into the matter.
Addressing a special party briefing, senior party spokesperson Anand Sharma and AICC's Communication department chief Randeep Surjewala said the CAG report tabled before the Gujarat Assembly on March 31 is a "severe" indictment of the then Modi government and depicted "breach of trust, illegal enrichment of Suit Boot cronies and mal intentioned loss caused to public exchequer."

The report unveils the "stark truth" as to how Rs 19,716 crore of hard-earned money of the people of Gujarat was "squandered away" by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) under the watch of the then Chief Minister Modi, they said.
"It is imperative that a Joint Parliamentary Committee is constituted to examine the matter in a fair manner as the Prime Minister's role cannot be examined by any other committee, including that of a state. We shall persist with this demand. He (Modi) is obviously not above the law. The Prime Minister is not above the law," Sharma told reporters.

The Opposition party indicated it may raise the issue to target the Prime Minister in the next session of Parliament.
The party also showed a short video which contained some remarks of Modi on the gas project, his tweets targeting the UPA government over CAG reports and certain comments of then leaders of opposition Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj slamming Congress leaders for allegedly not honouring CAG reports.

Sharma said: "Since the indictment by CAG is serious and public money is involved, a JPC is all the more required."
CAG has called into question state PSU Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's investment of Rs 19,576 crore in its Krishna Godavari (KG) block project, saying "future prospects" of the block remain shrouded in "uncertainty".

In 2005, Modi as Gujarat chief minister had announced that GSPC had struck 20 tcf gas in the KG basin block, named 'Deendayal block', where commercial production is yet to start.
Sharma said, "Modi must own responsibility for the gross
loss to public exchequer running into nearly Rs 20,000 crore...He must be held accountable by the standard he applies to others and submit himself to a probe by Joint Parliamentary Committee."
Quoting from the CAG report, he said: "GSPC invested Rs 19,576 crore of public money without any assessment of the risk involved, gas reserves, technology or pricing. There is no commercial production or resultant commercial gain of gas out of the announced gas yield of 20 trillion cubic feet."

This shows that the Prime Minister is "habitual of making false and boastful claims and grand announcements and feels that he is unaccountable", he said.
"BJP has always engaged in double standards and doublespeak. Why is the Prime Minister quiet? Why is his friend and BJP president quiet? Why is the Finance Minister and his other ministerial colleagues, who were pontificating on institutions and CAG....Why everybody is quiet, we can understand," the Congress leader said.
Asked if Congress would move court if JPC was not set up, Sharma said, "Let's await the response of our Prime Minister and his party which has sworn by CAG all these years. Let them be exposed that they do not believe in any accountability.