Ravi Shankar Prasad links PNB scam to Congress

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday linked PNB scam to Congress government, alleging that under the UPA government rule NPA has risen by 82 per cent.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, " Time and again we have stated that not a single loan given under our government is NPA. In 2008, the total advance to people given by the banks was Rs 18.06 Lakh Crores. By March 2014 amount went up to Rs 52.15 Lakh Crore. The stressed asset identified out of this was only 36 per cent." "Now the stressed asset has risen to 82 per cent out of that advances made in the UPA govt. This means for more than one occasions the correct data could not make it to the records of the banks under UPA government," he said.

On loan to Mehul Choksi's company Gitanjali, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, " There was a Scheme 80:20 introduced in August 2013 and repealed in November 2014. On 16th May 2014, the date of the declaration of results, the then Finance Minister gave 'aashirvaad' to 7 private companies under 80:20 Scheme. One of those companies was Gitanjali." He asked, "Chidambaram and Rahul Gandhi must answer why was this passed on the day of results to benefit these 7 private companies?" Further, he alleged that under the so-called economic Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the entire banking system went haywire due to all kinds of interference with it.