New Delhi, November 10
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first Cabinet expansion came under intense scrutiny of the Opposition today with the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party attacking the BJP for inducting ministers with “tainted and controversial backgrounds.”

The controversy was fuelled by a report of Association for Democratic Reforms that said as many as 11 (over 50%) of the 21 newly inducted ministers in the Modi cabinet were facing serious criminal cases, including attempt to murder, communal disharmony and electoral violations.

Of the 21 ministers, eight have criminal cases against them. Of these eight, four were facing serious charges. Among them is Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria, who has 23 cases, including attempt to murder mentioned in his affidavit.

Apart from Katheria, Uma Bharti also faces a case related to attempt to murder while Bihar MP Giriraj Singh has a case of electoral violation against him. He had infamously said “all anti-Modi voters should go to Pakistan.” The ADR report said of the 66 ministers in the Cabinet, 59 (92%) were crorepatis with average assets of the newly inducted ministers being Rs 18.48 crore.

Though the BJP defended the PM’s right to choose his Council of Ministers with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley dismissing Opposition charges as “unfounded”, the Congress went all out to dissect Modi’s Cabinet. Among the new entrants is Yalamanchili Satyanarayana Chowdary, a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, whose company Sujana Towers allegedly owes Rs 317.61 crore to the Central Bank of India. The Central Banks Employees Union had earlier prepared a list of non-performing assets of the bank in which YS Chowdhry figures among the top 10 defaulters. Chowdhry, incidentally, also has the highest assets (Rs 189.69 crore) among the newly inducted ministers.

“The PM successfully launched the Clean India Mission, but failed to clean his own Cabinet. He had earlier promised that he would in one year rid the Parliament of tainted MPs. What happened?” asked Congress general secretary (communications) Ajay Maken.

He also targeted Katheria for 23 criminal cases, asking the PM to apologise to the people for such inductions. Other ministers in Congress’ line of fire were Giriraj Singh (MoS). Maken asked the PM if he removed Sadanand Gowda from Rail Ministry because of corruption or inefficiency. “Has Gowda been removed because his assets grew from Rs 9.79 crore to Rs 20.35 crore in the last three months (a jump of over 100%) or has Gowda and Harsh Vardhan been removed from Railways and Health portfolios for inefficiency?” the Congress asked. With yesterday’s expansion, Modi Cabinet has about the same number of ministers the UPA had in its initial years. “Is this minimum government, maximum governance?,” asked Makan.

The AAP, eyeing Delhi polls, also slammed the appointment of BJP general secretary JP Nadda as the Union Health Minister. 

* A report of Association for Democratic Reforms said as many as 11 of the 21 newly inducted ministers in the Modi cabinet were facing serious criminal cases, including attempt to murder, communal disharmony and electoral violations

* were facing serious charges

* The ADR report said of the 66 ministers in the Cabinet, 59 (92%) were crorepatis with average assets of the newly inducted ministers being ~18.48 crore