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| Congress to 'support' Rs 100 Cr bank defaulter for key post in SMC | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Nov 4: The Congress party is planning to allegedly support a Kashmiri "bank defaulter" who owes over Rs 100 crore to a bank, for a key chair in the Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC), where elections for the chair of Mayor and Deputy Mayor are scheduled to be held in the coming days.
Sources said some of the Congress party leaders have been holding talks with the "willful defaulter" who was recently elected as a councilor in the SMC as independent candidate but owes a huge amount to a bank. Sources said the Congress leaders want the party councilors vote for him in the elections for the key chair.
Sources said the "defaulter" who was given loan of over Rs 100 crore during the regime of then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was that time close to National Conference (NC) but is now close to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
Sources said some of the PDP leaders have been supporting him before Congress so that he gets the "prominent chair" among the SMC councilors.
Sources said the said defaulter, who is also a businessman, has already submitted his nomination papers for the key chair in the SMC, while the elections are scheduled to be held soon.
Sources said the "defaulter" has assured some of the independent councilors of a "good deal" if they vote him to power. "But his main power lies in the support of the Councilors of the Congress which has maximum number of councilors. The proxy candidates of PDP will also vote for him," the sources said.
The defaulter in question had been granted loan during the National Conference-Congress regime but he didn't pay back the amount.
Sources said in 2017, the said defaulter using his contacts in PDP had taken up negotiation with the bank and decided to pay back the loan amount.
"But he paid back some little amount as token money but never paid the rest of the major amount. Recently the bank issued a fresh notice to him that as he has failed to pay even the negotiated amount so he will now have to pay back more than Rs 100 crores apart from the interest," said a senior official in the Finance Department on the condition of anonymity.
Sources said the Bharatiya Janta Party is likely to pick up the matter with the Raj Bhawan as to how come a "bank defaulter who has grabbed more than Rs 100 crore be given any key position in a government body."
"Such a big defaulter is like an offender and if a key position in SMC is given in the hands of an offender, it will set bad precedence of lawlessness," said a BJP leader on the condition of anonymity. Sources said the "defaulter is also under scanner for having misled a very famous spiritual leader" during one function in Kashmir.
Sources said the said "defaulter" tries to show off that he is close to whichever party or person is close to corridors of power.
Despite repeated attempts the Congress leader and the "defaulter" couldn't be contacted for comments.
Meanwhile a political party is planning to pick up the matter with New Delhi. |
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