Rahul targets PM over graft

New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his alleged failure to check corruption, reminding him of his remark that he will neither engage in graft himself nor allow others.

"I have just one question. Mr Prime Minister, what you say must carry weight.

"You said 'na khaoonga, na khane doonga' (will not engage in corruption myself, nor allow others). Why are you allowing corruption in Rajasthan? What are you doing to bring back Lalit Modi? Why are you not acting against Shivraj Singh Chouhan," he said.

Congress has been slamming the PM for not sacking Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje following revelations that she helped "fugitive" former IPL boss Lalit Modi. The party has also accused "bada Modi" (PM) of shielding "chhota Modi" (Lalit).

"Of course," Rahul said when asked whether the beleaguered Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should quit in the wake of the Supreme Court ordering a CBI inquiry into the Vyapam scam.

Congress has been demanding resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Raje for helping Lalit Modi, of HRD Minister Smriti Irani for misrepresenting facts about her educational qualifications, and Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde for her alleged involvement in a "scam" by clearing purchases worth Rs 206 crore on a single day without inviting tenders in violation of the norms.

It is also seeking resignation of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in the wake of a "rice scam" in which Rs 36,000 crore are alleged to have been misappropriated.

Death count continues to mount

The Madhya Pradesh Vyapam scam continues to get murkier even as the Supreme Court is set to hear plea for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into it on Thursday.

A Madhya Pradesh Police constable, Sanjay Yadav, a witness in the Vyapam scam, has died. According to the STF, the constable died of prolonged illness five months back.

Yadav was a witness in the police constable exam case of Vyapam. He was supposed to depose in a Bhopal court in connection with the case, but did not appear.

The constable was believed to be close to Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav’s ex-OSD Dhanraj Yadav, who is currently in jail over the Vyapam scam.

Earlier, reports had said that the constable had gone missing. However, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had alleged that the constable was dead.

Whistleblowers have alleged that children and relatives of judges, IAS and IPS officers are among those who bought seats in private medical and dental colleges. The whistleblowers cite these documents, which mention that "kith and kin" of judges benefited - to argue that the judiciary in Madhya Pradesh cannot be objective in the hearing of the admission scam, sources say. "We are under threat of life and limb," the whistleblowers have said. One of them, Ashish Chaturvedi said that despite more than 10 threats and attempts on his life, he would not budge from his mission to expose "big fish" including CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.