 "Randeep Singh Surjewala")
Seeking to get back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi using in own remarks, the Congress on Tuesday questioned his silence on the PNB scam, and advised him to turn from "maun (silent) Modi to bol (speaking) Modi".
The party said while the "bank fraud" was getting bigger, the prime minister was quiet.
"Why is it that the bank fraud keeps getting bigger? On February 14, 2018, when PNB did its filing with the National Stock Exchange, they admitted that their exposure is USD 1771.69 million," Congress Communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
"Last evening they did a second filing admitting that their exposure has now further gone up by USD 204.25 million," he told reporters here in poll-bound Karnataka.
This means that the total scam has gone up to USD 2 billion, according to the documents released by Punjab National Bank, he said.
"Who is responsible? Who is responsible for this public loot of money? We, with folded hands, request Prime Minister Narendra Modi... when will you honorable prime minister shift from maun Modi to bol Modi (silent Modi to speaking Modi)," he told the press conference where he released the copies of PNB's filing to the exchanges.
At an election rally in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi in 2012, Modi, then the Gujarat chief minister, had attacked prime minister Manmohan Singh, saying he was "maun (silent) Mohan Singh" who showed no concern over rising prices and plight of the poor people.
Noting that Modi, during his recent visits to Karnataka had, among other things, spoken on the issue of corruption, Surjewala said after 46 months in power "if one person in India has to answer on corruption, it is Modi and his party the BJP."
He said, "We want to ask the PM on behalf of the country to break his maun vrat, to break his silence and speak out, answer questions of the people of the country."
Surjewala said Modi's silence itself "exposed" his stand on corruption.
Claiming that scams involving Rs 31 Rs 316.91 billion (Rs 31,691 crore) had been "exposed" in the last 10 days, the Congress leader also cited the Rotomac case.
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