File FIRs against 14 Ministers or face protest: Anna to govt

Anna Hazare and his team of anti-corruption crusaders on Sunday raised the stakes in their battle with the government by warning of a nationwide ‘jail bharo’ agitation in August if criminal cases were not filed against 14 Union Ministers on charges of corruption and criminal intimidation.

More broadly, Team Anna demanded investigation of allegations against 1,300 elected representatives (MPs as well as MLAs) across the country against whom criminal charges have been levelled.

Addressing crowds at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the venue of a fast to demand protection for whistleblowers campaigning against corruption, Anna demanded the government file first information reports (FIRs) against the 14 Ministers by August, failing which he would launch a campaign to ‘fill the jails’. “We have to be ready for this. We will announce the dates later,” he said.

Arvind Kejriwal, the fiery core member of Team Anna, named the 14 Union Ministers who, he alleged, were “corrupt.” He himself had no direct evidence of wrongdoing on their party, but there had been allegations in newspapers and on television, and they needed to be investigated.

Indian Express lists the 14 Union Ministers whom Kejriwal named, and the specific charges against them. (Firstpost takes no stand on these allegations, but is listing the names as given by Kejriwal because they are in the public domain, and will likely form the basis of a public discourse and/or litigation.)

The ministers named are:

P Chidambaram (for his alleged controversial role in the 2G scam, and the charge that his wife (a lawyer) defended a Kolkata businessman in an income tax claim of Rs 580 crore)

Kapil Sibal (for allegedly lowering a Rs 650 crore fine on Reliance Communication to Rs 5 crore) Firstpost report here ; Kapil Sibal’s side of the story here

Praful Patel (for his alleged role in running Air India to the ground when he was civil aviation minister)

Sharad Pawar (for alleged “links” with Abdul Karim Telgi in the Maharashtra stamp duty scam)

SM Krishna (for alleged involvement in the Karnataka mining scam)

Kamal Nath (over allegations relating to the rice export)

Farooq Abdullah (for alleged financial irregularities in the J&K Cricket Association)

Sushikumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh (for their role in the Adarsh housing scam and a land allotment allegation against Deshmukh)

Ajit Singh (for charges that in 2008, when the UPA 1 government was tottering after the Left parties withdrew support over the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, he supported the government – for a monetary consideration)

GK Vasan (for allegedly giving away 16,000 acres near Kandla Port at a loss of Rs 2 lakh crore to the exchequer)

Sriprakash Jaiswal (for alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks)

MK Azhagiri (for alleged attacks on political rivals)

Virbhadra Singh (for assorted allegations of bribery)

In addition, Kejriwal said that charges of corruption against State-level leaders like BS Yeddyurappa, Jayalalithaa, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati merited investigations.