Cong mounts pressure on BJP over Tawde issue

Congress today kept up pressure on the BJP over the "Tarun Bharat Mumbai scam" demanding that the ruling party make a full disclosure of facts and demanded sacking of Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde from the Cabinet.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesman of the party, said that Tawde is a director in Shree Multimedia Vision, "a for-profit company, which brings out Mumbai Tarun Bharat". This was not disclosed this in his election affidavit, they said.
They alleged that since Tawde held a director's post in the private media company, it amounted to conflict of interest, which calls for his sacking from the Cabinet.

Seeking full disclosure from the BJP, they said that the last Annual Return for 2012-13 of SMVL reflects a loan of Rs.25 lakh from BJP.
Annual Return of SMVL also reflects Rs.20 lakh loan from 'Keshav Kunj'. RSS headquarter at Jhandewalan, New Delhi is also known as 'Keshav Kunj', they said, adding BJP/RSS should disclose whether this is a loan from RSS or another entity?
Noting that the balance sheet also reflected that one Vilayati Ram Mittal has also extended a loan of Rs.15 lakh to SMVL, they claimed surprisingly, report of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) showed that Mittal is a builder, who is being investigated by Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Surjewala alleged that Dilip Karambelkar, a business partner and a long-time friend of Tawde, was made the president of Maharashtra State Marathi Encyclopedia Corporation without following the due process.

The Minister, however, has said it was an honorary director's post and, since he received no remuneration from the company, there was no question of conflict of interest.
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Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil sought criminal action against Tawde.
Addressing a press meet in Mumbai, they claimed an individual can lawfully have only one Director Identity Number (DIN), but Union minister Nitin Gadkari possesses six and Tawde three such numbers.

They said according to the Companies Act, there is no post of an 'honorary director' in a for-profit company and demanded criminal proceedings against Tawde for allegedly violating People's Representation Act.
"The Election Code of Conduct clearly states that after becoming a minister, if a person is associated with any for-profit company, he has to resign from his Ministerial post within 60 days," Nirupam said.
He claimed that Tawde, while speaking to news channels, had admitted he holds director's position in five other companies besides Shree Multimedia Vision.
"The Companies Act states there cannot be an honorary director in a for-profit company. Such a company has either director or an executive director. Secondly, even if he was honorary director, he would not have had permission to sign on the company's balance sheets. But he has signed on balance sheets," he said.

Nirupam said according to Section 75 (A) of People's Representation Act, a candidate has to declare his movable and immovable properties and also if he holds any position in a company, failing which he faces up to six months prison term.
"The Prime Minister says 'Na khaunga na khane dunga' (an anti-corruption slogan). The CM (Devendra Fadnavis) talks of transparency. Now they should stick to their pronouncements and initiate criminal proceedings against Tawde for possessing multiple DIN numbers," he said.
BJP came out in defence of Tawde, saying the allegations against him are baseless and devoid of facts.
"As far as the issue of DIN number is concerned, Priyanka Gandhi, Robert Vadra and Chidambaram are already facing cases on this issue," BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari claimed.

"If you check the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, your will find that out of 6 DIN numbers given by the Congress for Nitin Gadkari, four have lapsed, one has expired and only one is active. Similarly with Tawde, only one DIN is active," he said, adding Congress should learn to read (MCA website) properly.