New Delhi, Aug 8: With Opposition gunning for Sheila Dikshit, Delhi government today said there was no indictment of the Chief Minister or any other political leader in the CAG report on CWG projects which is being “unnecessarily politicised”.
Noting that the government has gone through the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said it has neither indicted Dikshit nor any other political head and has rather praised the city government on infrastructure development work.
“We have gone through the report. Nowhere in the report has either the Chief Minister or any minister or any public functionary been named. Nobody has been indicted. No mention of their names. Where is the indictment of the Chief Minister?
“What is happening now is unnecessary politicisation of the CAG report. Some people are trying to take political mileage out of the report.... Nowhere in the report, there is mention of the words—corruption or scam,” Lovely told a press conference after a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet which discussed the audit report in detail.
Tearing into opposition demand for Dikshit's resignation, Lovely said if the governments were to resign on the “mere” mention of their names in the CAG report, then every March there will be change in guard at both central and state levels.
The CAG had pointed out several irregularities in certain projects like streetscaping and streetlighting causing financial losses.
Lovely said there was “no role” of any political leader or for that matter the Chief Minister in the tender process. “CAG reports are out every March and every time they find some fault in tender process and if one resigns for being named in the CAG report, governments have to change every March,” Lovely said.
Reiterating his government's position to cooperate with Public Accounts Committee, he said if PAC wants to know anything, the government will be more than happy to do so and maintained that the CAG was an auditor while PAC was a Constitutional body to go into the report.
Asking BJP to read the CAG report “properly” before demanding resignations, the Minister said that the CAG has, infact, acknowledged the infrastructure development and street lighting during the Commonwealth Games.
“In Page 427, the CAG has acknowledged the improvement in infrastructure that the Games have brought. They have also praised the infrastructure development brought by the Delhi Government,” he said.
Following the tabling of the CAG report in Parliament last week, BJP has been demanding the resignation of Dikshit saying that the auditor has indicted her.
Earlier at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Dikshit, the ministers analysed the situation arising out of the CAG report and decided to give a “strong” reply to the allegations. The government has already prepared its preliminary reply to the irregularities mentioned by the CAG.
Dikshit refused to comment about the uproar in Parliament over the opposition demand for her resignation this morning which had lead to its adjournment. “On whatever is happening in Parliament I will not comment on that,” she told reporters.
Asked about growing demand for her resignation, she said, “Let them demand.” PTI
