Patna: Mounting a frontal attack on the
Congress-led UPA government, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
on Monday asked the latter to make public the names of those
people who have stashed black money in the foreign banks.
"The public has a right to know those `corrupt` people
who have stashed black money in foreign banks," he said at a
function to mark the socialist leader and former Bihar Chief
Minister Karpoori Thakur`s birth anniversary here.
"Even the Supreme Court has questioned the Centre on
its stubbornness against making public the names of the owners
of ill-gotten wealth abroad and under the circumtances, it is
difficult to understand as to what prevents the latter from
doing so," Kumar asked.
The Chief Minister rapped Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh for reportedly expressing his inability to release
the names of those owning black money in foreign banks saying
that the latter`s statement amounted to giving a boost to the
corrupt.
Expressing surprise at the quantum of public
money kept in foreign banks amounting to Rs. 22.50 lakh crores
according to one estimate, Kumar said that the country could
benefit immensely if the ill-gotten wealth was brought back.
The reported sum of black money may sustain the
national budget for two years and could be used for funding
the implementation of the Right to Education act and other
socio-economic welfare and healthcare schemes for a long time,
Kumar said.
Under the circumstances, the Centre should leave no
stone unturned to bring back the black money from foreign
countries, the Chief Minister said and questioned the Centre`s
sincerity to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion going
by its past records as well as its handling of recent scams
like 2G and Commonwealth Games.
``It was a game with a game,`` the Chief Minister
quipped about corruption in the Commonwealth Games.
Kumar, however, warned the Centre against taking
lightly the public mood against corruption and reminded it of
the massive agitations in 1975 (Emergency) and 1989 (Bofors
scam) leading to defeat of the Congress governments on both
occasions at the hustings.
PTI
