Government collecting evidence against black money offenders: Ravi Shankar Prasad

NEW DELHI: Government is collecting evidence against those who have stashed black money abroad and the offenders will soon be punished, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

In an interview to a news channel, he said that BJP in just five and half months has been able to achieve something which the Congress was unable to do in 10 years.

"We formed the SIT which Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi could not form in three years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took up the issue of black money in G-20 and gave it an international colour and the entire world is today ready to cooperate on this issue.

"We have submitted the list of black money account holders to Supreme Court and SIT. In that 250 people have admitted that they have accounts in foreign banks. But for the sake of secrecy and to collect more evidence, we have not made the names public," Prasad said.

In a statement issued by the channel, Prasad was quoted as saying that, "In just five and a half months, we have done that work which the Congress government could not do in ten years."

He said that the government is collecting evidences and based on that, "we will soon send the criminals behind bars".

When asked why his party is not having a discussion on the issue of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister said that Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already clarified that there will be a discussion on it, but Article 370 is not an election issue.

"Kashmir presently needs employment and good governance. Previous governments have deceived the Kashmiris. We have also said that three seats are reserved for Kashmiri Pandits. Talks are also going on to reserve seats for those Kashmiris displaced from Pakistan...

"The atmosphere in Kashmir is changing. People have chanted slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rallies. People want a change in government. I think we would not have to compromise with any party - be it PDP or any other party," the statement said quoting Prasad.