Cong graft slur on Chamling

Bhandari with the booklet
in Gangtok on Monday.
(Prabin Khaling)

Gangtok, July 26: The opposition Congress today released a 108-page booklet highlighting the alleged corruption of the chief minister, five ministers and seven former ministers who had misappropriated wealth worth Rs 113 crore between 1994 and 2009.

Around 40 pages of Sikkim Mahaloot, the booklet, are on chief minister Pawan Chamling. The booklet was released by former Sangha MLA of the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee Acharya Tshering Lama at the party office here at Development Area.

Former chief minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari said the party had released the book to make people aware of the “misdeeds” and “corruption” of the leaders of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front.

“The booklet is the result of a research conducted by the party on innumerable information collected through RTI applications and from various reliable sources to expose such public enemies,” said Bhandari, the SPCC president.

Four SPCC functionaries had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in July 2006 alleging that the chief minister had amassed assets worth Rs. 15.38 crore, disproportionate to his known source of income. The petitioners had prayed for a CBI probe.

The apex court had dismissed the petition on March 25. “It’s always open to the petitioners to approach the investigative agencies directly with the incriminating materials and it is for the investigative agencies to decide on the further course of action,” the court had said in its order.

The SPCC lodged its complaints with the CBI on May 24 and July 1. Most of these complaints have now been compiled in the booklet.

Bhandari said the documents submitted to the CBI were copies of affidavits filed by those named in the complaints declaring their wealth and income to the election authorities from 1994 to 2009.

He said the booklet had already been submitted to Congress president Sonia Gandhi before a party delegation meets her next month.