Kohima:The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has reaffirmed its call for the resignation of Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Benjongliba on the account of alleged misappropriation of money during his tenure as Mission Director, Horticulture Technology Mission – North East (HTM-NE).
In a statement, NPCC media cell said the statement of the minister, his supporters and the Horticulture Director as an attempt to hoodwink the people after ‘siphoning off public funds.’ NPCC reiterated that the allegations against the Minister and the Horticulture Department were based on concrete evidences collected through assembly questions and reply to RTI applications and this has ‘badly exposed’ the scheming of privileged few in power to extract huge amount of public money.
Dr. Benjongliba had met the CLP leader on September 29 and requested him to stop pursuing the Horticulture issue. The Minister was politely told that the issue was now in the public domain and would need a logical conclusion. Therefore, the question of forgiveness between the individuals did not arise since the issue was of immense public interest, said NPCC.
Contrary to the tall claims of the Agriculture Minister and his self perceived assertion that the issue was a ‘gimmick of the Opposition’ and an attempt to topple the Government, NPCC said the details of Axis Bank Account 910010016607364 in Kohima Branch statement portrayed a different story from which the Minister could not refute or escape.
The NPCC revealed that the present Director for Horticulture, in her letter to the Commissioner and Secretary of Horticulture on November 7, 2013 on the high value cash transaction, had stated that ‘she was not aware’ about the account, ‘as the same was never communicated to her during and after taking charge of both the offices, Director & Mission Director.’ The Horticulture Department has also denied having any knowledge about the account in an RTI reply furnished by Dr. R. E. Lotha, Deputy Director & PIO, it informed. UNI