The Congress has come up with yet another allegation against the Vasundhara Raje government – this time a mining scam.

The Opposition party has alleged that the State government allotted 653 mines worth ₹45,000 to various private individuals and agencies without auction.

Alleging that the Raje government flouted all laws on allocation of mineral resources, the Congress reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his promise against corruption during his campaign before the General Elections that he “would neither take a bribe nor let others take it”.

Party leaders Sachin Pilot, Rameshwar Dudi and Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here on Friday that the State government had violated a guideline issued by the Centre on November 14 – following a Supreme Court verdict – that mines should only be auctioned. They said the Centre had also issued a notification on January 12, 2015 making auctions compulsory, but Raje government allocated 137 mines on the same day (January 12) itself.

“What was the pressing hurry? We do not see such a hurry in dealing with the dengue menace in Jaipur,” Pilot said, adding that the Chief Minister should resign and a probe should be ordered into the allocations.

‘Land given away’ The Congress will also take up the issue in the State Assembly and is consulting experts on the possibilities of approaching the court. The Congress leaders also said 22,085.81 hectares of land worth about ₹2.5 lakh crore was being handed over to private parties for mining. “Allocation of public resources including minerals in India can only be done through a competitive bidding process. This is the mandate of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” they said.

The party said Raje government did not take prior approval of the Centre before issuing letters of intent to 653 prospecting mining leases.

“No prior notification was published inviting applications for grant of 653 prospecting licences/mining leases. No exploration data or details of available minerals were published. Even mining area was not notified. All this was done so that the 653 mineral mines for 22,085.81 hectares would not be subject to the process of auction through competitive bidding. Loss to the exchequer on account of this fraudulent decision is writ large,” they alleged.

The Congress, which faced an electoral debacle in the State, has been making corruption allegations against Raje and her family. The party first tried to use the LalitGate issue against the State government, trying to establish that there have been business links between former IPL chief Lalit Modi and Raje’s family. The Chief Minister and the BJP had, however, denied all such allegations.

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