Alleging a nexus between Congress and the Naveen Patnaik led-BJD in loot of mineral resources of Odisha, BJP president Rajnath Singh today claimed that the UPA government deliberately tabled only one-third of the Justice M B Shah Commission's reports instead of the full.
"The UPA government has tabled only one volume of the Shah Commission report. The Shah panel has submitted three volumes of reports on illegal mining in Odisha," Rajnath said while addressing the party's Vijay Sankalp Samabesh here.
Demanding a CBI probe into the illegal mining in Odisha, Rajnath smelt that the UPA govenrment intentionally tabled only one volume of the Shah Panel with a motive of supressing facts.
The BJP President also blamed the UPA government for not introducing the MMDR (amendment) Bill, passing of which would ensure 26 per cent of royalty for states on exploration of minerals.
Stating that both the Congress and BJD are jointly involved in illegal mining scam in Odisha, he said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should voluntarily hand over the investigation of the illegal mining to CBI.
On the poverty of Odisha, the BJP president agreed with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who two days ago said: "Odisha is rich, but its people are poor.
