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Cong resorting to blackmailing: Mahanta

By Staff reporter

GUWAHATI, June 21 � Former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today accused Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of trying to blackmail the AGP to cover up the financial scam in NC Hills Autonomous Council and asserted that he and other members of the regional party would continue to fight in the interest of Assam.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Mahanta said that he had already requested the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to ensure that the CBI probe into the financial scam in NC Hills is free from any political interference. He claimed that he has evidence of telephonic conversation of Ministers regarding the scam. However, he refused to divulge the names of the Ministers.

Reacting to the Chief Minister�s statement that the State Government would ask the CBI to reopen the case relating to the Letter of Credit (LoC) scam, Mahanta said that he is ready to face any probe into the activities of the Government during the AGP regime. �I have the moral courage to face any impartial probe,� he asserted.

However, at the same time, Mahanta said that the LoC scam started during the Congress regime and dared the Chief Minister to reopen the probe into the scam since the beginning. He said that the courts have already acquitted him of the charges regarding the LoC scam and the Chief Minister tried to adopt �blackmailing tactics� only because of the demand for an impartial probe into all the financial irregularities in NC Hills Autonomous Council. He demanded that there have been allegations of large-scale irregularities in Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the same should also be probed by the CBI.

Mahanta said that whenever Gogoi finds himself in trouble, he raises the issues like LoC scam or secret killings to divert the attention of the people to protect his chair. If Gogoi is really interested in reopening the cases relating to the LoC scam, why he waited for nine years to take such a decision, he questioned.

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