“Why is the individual who once declared na khaunga na khane dunga silent and why has the Arunachal Pradesh CM not been told to resign,” the Congress’s Jairam Ramesh questioned.
New Delhi: More than a month after the top court directed a preliminary CBI investigation into corruption accusations against Arunachal chief minister Pema Khandu, it is a “serious mockery of the Supreme Court’s judgment” that he has still not been asked to vacate office, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated.
Ramesh, a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and the party’s general secretary handling communications, also questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained quiet on the matter.
“This is not a directive from a subordinate court or a high court. It comes from the Supreme Court. Yet the CM remains in office,” Ramesh posted on X, while also pointing out that Khandu oversees Arunachal Pradesh’s public works department and “has control over the documents that the CBI will require to carry out its inquiry”.
“Why is the man who once said na khaunga na khane dunga silent and why has the Arunachal Pradesh CM not been instructed to resign,” asked Ramesh, referring to the anti-corruption narrative on which Modi rose to power in 2014. “This is a serious mockery of the Supreme Court’s judgment itself.”
According to the petitioners who moved the Supreme Court, the Arunachal Pradesh government executed procurement and allocated contracts unlawfully and arbitrarily to Khandu, his brother and his stepmother along with their close political associates.
Projects worth Rs 1,270 crore were allotted between 2015 and 2025 to four firms connected either to Khandu – who assumed office as chief minister in 2016 – or his close relatives, they had contended.
A bench consisting of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria on April 6 ordered a preliminary CBI investigation into the allegations, directing that the agency “shall in particular examine awards made” to Khandu, his brother and his stepmother “and to firms or individuals connected to them”.
“The coincidence is striking that in a state, contracts and tenders are awarded to family members in such large numbers,” the bench orally remarked while delivering its judgment.
Earlier, the Union government had informed the Supreme Court in October that it could not examine the allegations against Khandu and that the responsibility rested with the state government.