Making an appeal to the Lt Governor to constitute a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) against the corrupt MLAs and Ministers who have accumulated huge wealth and disproportionate assets in the last five years, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman, and former Education Minister, on Sunday, lambasted the erstwhile State Government for having grossly failed to take action against the blemished politicians of BJP and PDP who had looted public exchequer, encroached State lands, Forest lands, Municipal and JDA lands besides having installed illegal brick kilns, stone crushers, hot mix plants and raised mammoth movable and immovable properties in various parts of the State and outside by abusing their position and authority.

He said that even erstwhile Governor SP Malik had referred to several scams in the State in insurance contracts, power projects, Forest Department besides large scale illegitimate back door appointments but the bigwigs continued to enjoy immunity in view of their political clout with no action whatsoever initiated against the corrupt politicians. He said that the outgoing Governor was on record having made repeated statements about some politicians having raised palatial bungalows with 40-50 rooms each at several places including Srinagar, Jammu, New Delhi and elsewhere through ill-gotten wealth.

Regretfully no action was imitated against such corrupt leaders, lamented Singh. He was addressing a press conference, here. Describing the BJP Government's tall slogans of providing transparent, accountable and corruption-free governance to the people a hoax, Harsh said that all such rants were made to enchant the masses for political gains.

He said that several ex-BJP Ministers and MLAs had been reported to have created huge assets, taken loan from J&K Bank amounting to Rs. 30 crore and got it declared NPA besides having defied norms and procedures and violated Defence Acts besides other violations in constructing un-authorized structures and palatial bungalows.

He said that even during demonetization a BJP Minister's vehicle was widely reported to have been apprehended while carrying huge ‘dirty cash' for conversion into new currency notes. "Similarly another Minister's spouse was reported to have been video-graphed while converting black money into gold. Another Minister was accused of having taken several crores as bride from his colleague MLC for granting permission for construction of private apartments in an environmentally fragile area of Jammu", Harsh divulged.

Revealing further, Singh said that several BJP Ministers were accused of promoting transfer industry in the State, allotment of works without tenders and illegal appointments made in government departments on monetary and extraneous considerations. Moreover, several Ministers and MLAs had encroached huge State lands and Forest lands whose adverse reports had been submitted even by the investigating agencies against them, Harsh disclosed.

He said a BJP MLA rose from rags to riches within no time and had been accused of raising two palatial bungalows after elections besides raising huge moveable and immoveable assets in Jammu city and its vicinity which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Urging the Lt Governor to constitute a Commission of Inquiry to probe into the involvement of Ex-MLAs and Ex-Ministers of the erstwhile unethical alliance in corrupt deeds, large scale bunglings and other acts of omission and commission, Harsh said that until the noose was tightened around corrupt politicians, good and clean governance would remain a distant dream.