Ashok Gehlot's brother involved in fertiliser scam: BJP

Gujarat [India], Nov.13 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot's brother of being involved in a scam during the UPA regime and said that his company allegedly exported subsidised fertiliser.

Speaking to media, BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that Gehlot's brother imported potash, meant for farmers, and exported it at cheaper price after claiming subsidy from the Centre on it.

Citing a media report he said, "A fertiliser scam was happened during 2007-2009 and may be continued till 2014. The custom department unearthed a scam took place during the UPA rule by a firm run by Congress leader Ashok Gehlot's brother. In this scam, a subsidised fertiliser potash was imported on a large scale by this firm and was exported at a cheaper price after changing its packaging. They imported the fertiliser meant for farmers in Rs 12,000 and took a subsidy of Rs.7500 and exported it in Rs. 1500. Thus a case of money laundering was also disclosed."

The Union minister further said that the custom department had also fined Gehlot's brother for the wrongdoings.

Asserting that Congress "synonymous with corruption", Javadekar said that many scams happened in all agriculture schemes during Congress regime.

"They misused the schemes which were meant for farmers. This scam has been exposed now. By doing this they not only violated the law but also befooled the farmers. This is a clear case of theft of subsidy, theft of farmers'right and money laundering," Javadekar added.

The BJP leader also demanded Congress' clarification on the scam and said "the party that claims to be pro-farmer has cheated the farmers."

"This kind of cheating is specialty of Congress.What the Congress leaders will say on this scam who always claim that they fight for the right of farmers. What is Ashok Gehlot's take on this?," he added. (ANI)