3 'pro-Chidambaram' officials working in Finance Ministry: Swamy
The BJP leader claimed that while he was against the aforementioned officials, Arun Jaitley had insisted to keep them.
New Delhi: In a startling revelation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday accused few Finance Ministry officials to be ‘pro-Chidambaram’, and expressed concern over them hampering the Income Tax investigation against the former finance minister.
Swamy further said that he had opposed their appointment right from the start, but Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley insisted on keeping them.
"I know there are three officials in the Finance Ministry who I have been opposing from Day One. But, Jaitley insisted on keeping them. They are all working for Chidambaram. One of them went and met Chidambaram recently. He is a person who can influence Income tax investigation against Chidambaram," Swamy said.
Claiming that there Congress loyalists all over the place, Swamy said that it would atleast take 70 years to ‘clean’ as the party has been in power for around 70 years.
With the Central Bureau of Investigation raiding Chidambaram's residence on Wednesday in connection with the FIPB approval in several cases, the senior Congress leader and former union minister lashed out at the Centre, accusing it of using national agencies to target his son.
"FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five Secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials. There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against me," he said in a statement.
Retaliating against Chidambaram's allegations of the Centre targeting him and his son Karti under the pretence of raids, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said 'nothing else can be expected from him', defending the CBI.
"Cannot expect anything else from Chidambaram; he is accountable for the property his son holds and will have to answer to the CBI and cooperate with their procedures," he told ANI.
The CBI conducted raids at around 14 different locations in Chennai and also in the national capital in connection with the criminal misconduct in grant of FIPB approval.