Congress trying to score political mileage over my statement: Oram

BHUBANESWAR: As politics over the statement of Union Tribal Affairs Minister refused to die down following fresh salvo by opposition Congress, Oram on Sunday said the Congress party has tried to score a political mileage on the statement made by him.

“The Congress leaders seem not to have carefully examined what I have said and also what I later clarified. My contention was that the BJD should have thanked BJP because it did not use CBI the way Congress was using it for political gain,” said Oram in a statement.

“Had BJP misused the CBI the way Congress-led UPA had done in the past, there is no doubt the CBI would have finished the BJD government already,” the minister added.

He was referring to the press conference of senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and Odisha Congress president Prasad Harichandan at New Delhi, where they attacked the Narendra Modi for using CBI for political gain in Odisha.

“I also said even though a section of people are under the impression that the probe into these scams by the CBI is slow, the NDA government has never interfered with the activities of the CBI,” said Oram.

The minister said that he never questioned the integrity of the CBI.

The statement made by Jairam Ramesh, and Prasad Harichandan is false, politically motivated and based on distorted facts, he added.

He said the entire country knows the corruption was synonymous with the Congress party, whether in power or otherwise.

He said the Congress party should know that NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has zero tolerance against corruption, and the government has already initiated several steps in this regards.