PAC head Venugopal working to defame govt, acting unconstitutionally: Nishikant Dubey to LS Speaker

New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) Public Accounts Committee member and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has accused the panel’s chairman and Congress MP K C Venugopal of raking up non-existent issues to defame the central government and destabilise the country’s financial structure and economy.

Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on September 9 alleging Venugopal misused his position, bypassed the PAC’s remit and worked as part of a “tool kit” to damage the economy, following reports that the committee may summon SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who has been accused of professional impropriety by US-based firm Hindenburg Research.

Incidentally, the PAC decided on October 4 to call Buch for deposition on October 24.

Accusing Venugopal of “unconstitutional and disdainful” conduct, Dubey claimed that political motivations were guiding the committee’s chairperson after the Congress was “compelled” by voters to sit in the opposition benches following the Lok Sabha polls.

There was no immediate reaction from the senior Congress leader.

Venugopal was hand-picked by the Congress to devise ways and means to rake up those issues that are non-existent, with the sole intention of defaming the government and destabilising the financial structure and the economy, the BJP MP alleged.

Dubey said various countries that cannot digest the growth of India, which is on the trajectory of becoming the world’s third-biggest economy, devised a “tool kit” to defame it by attacking its financial structure and the economy by dubbing important organisations like SEBI as corrupt.

Claiming that unverified allegations by a foreign company like Hindenburg against Buch were part of such a campaign, he alleged that the “India Chapter’ of this toolkit has become active.

“It used its position as is presently being used by K C Venugopal in the capacity of Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, to further defame the Government and damage the financial prospects of our economy.

“This time also, unverified allegations have been levelled against the SEBI Chief by a foreign entity viz., Hindenburg Research, which is notorious for targeting business houses, important functionaries and financial institutions of the country,” Dubey told Birla.

His strongly worded communication is a clear indication that the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which is in a majority in the committee, is likely to resist any further move by Venugopal to put the regulator in a spot, signalling that its meetings over the issue will be stormy.

Dubey also accused Venugopal of committing the “unconstitutional and disdainful act of announcing an inquiry against the SEBI Chief by the Committee”, which is against the constitutional provisions and in clear violation of parliamentary rules.

“I request your goodself to restrain Mr K.C. Venugopal not to play at the hands of aforementioned ‘tool kit and misuse his position as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee”, Dubey told the Speaker.

Citing rules, the BJP MP said the sole function of the Public Accounts Committee is confined to scrutinising the appropriation accounts of the Government of India and reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

He noted that neither the CAG has published any report on the SEBI head’s conduct nor this aspect of the market regulator has any linkage to the appropriation accounts of the Government of India.

The committee, he alleged, has been made as a “surreptitious tool kit of some countries, inimical to the galloping strides which India has witnessed during the last decade under the exemplary leadership” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said that the committee has called the SEBI chairperson to appear before it but it has not received a confirmation so far from the capital market regulator on whether she would attend the meeting herself or send a representative.

Hindenburg, which had last year charged the Adani Group with fraud and stock manipulation, recently accused Buch of conflict of interest as it sought to question the SEBI’s probe into the allegations against the business conglomerate.

Buch has denied any wrongdoing.