Raman Singh denies allegations of inviting Australian company for investment

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], Feb. 20 (ANI): Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday said that the allegation made by the Congress party in the state Legislative Assembly that he had invited an associate company of PNB fraud case accused Nirav Modi, to invest in the state were 'baseless and hypothetical'.

Singh said Congress has been levelling "baseless and hypothetical charges" as they don't have any other issue left to raise in the House.

"This is hypothetical. The opposition had a dream one night and made such allegation. In the year 2014, a survey was conducted by these companies, after which when the reports came they went out of India," said Singh.

Singh's statements came after 30 Congress MLAs were suspended from Chhattisgarh Assembly after they raised protest over the chief minister's invitation to Metals and Mining Corporation Rio Tinto for investment in the state, alleging that the corporation has connections with Nirav Modi and is "blacklisted" in Madhya Pradesh.

Nirav Modi's company Firestone Diamond had partnered with Rio Tinto in 2010 to sell pink diamonds in India.

Chief Minister Singh speaking on the same issue called it an allegation of imagination saying that Rio Tinto had "fully gone out of India" and are not doing any kind of work here.

"For the first time in fourteen years, something good is happening. So if the opposition wants to protest for a political reason they should find something else to protest on. The uproar created by Congress only means that the party is left with no reason where they could put an allegation on the government," Singh added.(ANI)