Congress dares BJP on black money

New Delhi: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government saying Congress name on black money list could be individual transgression. It comes after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hinted of making some names public. Claiming that neither the party, individual named will be embarrassed, Chidambaram said, “BJP position on black money is identical to that of Congress.”

In an interview to a popular TV channel, Chidambaram spoke on a range of issues, from the black money row to coal reforms.  “The Modi government has done nothing new. Taking credit is the advantage of a successor government,” said Chidambaram.

He exclaimed that the government’s affidavit in Supreme Court on black money was a U-turn from BJP’s position. “BJP doesn’t have the grace to admit it did a U-turn on black money,” he said.

“BJP criticised our stand; now they are taking the same position on black money. We disclosed 18 black money names to Supreme Court. We pushed Swiss authorities to enter into agreement to disclose names. Raised the issue in G20; final declaration spoke of information sharing,” said the former Finance Minister.

Elections were announced before we could have a written agreement. I did not ask to see, nor was I shown the black money names. Jaitley wanted to move from black money to blackmail; why not release the name. If an individual has violated the law, the individual assumes responsibility, Said Chidambaram.

On the Robert Vadra issue, “I don’t know the facts of Vadra case; I can’t comment on it. Vadra case never came to the Finance Ministry formally. May be Vadra case created a perception for Congress, he said.

Being asked to comment on the coal blocks reforms issue, “The government’s decision on coal leaves a lot to be desired. The Supreme Court order on coal largely right; but several areas have thrown up new problems. SC order gave a chance to clean up coal sector without compromising Coal India,” Chidambaram said.

Barring mines that Coal India needs; all other mines should have opened up. Ours was a coalition government; there was no consensus on coal reforms.

He however, admitted Congress morale was low and that the leadership needed to respond urgently. He also batted for Congress reorganisation which is long overdue. He clarified that nobody had asked anybody to be a sycophant in the party.

He said Sonia Gandhi was most acceptable Congress leader and amongst youth it was Rahul Gandhi. “As long as Sonia Gandhi is Congress president, she is numero uno,” he said. He also did not refute the chances of a non-Gandhian Congress president in the future.

“Government has scored heavily on propaganda but the strategy and policy are missing. We dealt with Pakistan with far greater maturity and sobriety. PM’s focus has been more on domestic constituency. His visit to Japan didn’t yield agreement on civil nuclear cooperation,” said Chidambaram.