Radia mediated Tata Nano deal with Modi govt, claims Congress

Gandhinagar: The Congress on Monday claimed that corporate lobbyist Nira Radia had mediated the deal between Tata Motors and Gujarat government for setting up the Anon car manufacturing unit in Sanand, leading to an uproar in the state assembly.
Congress MLA from Porbander Arjun Modhvadia alleged that because of Radia''s mediation in the Nano deal, Tata could walk away with freebies worth Rs 29,000 crore.
He claimed he had documentary evidence in this regard.
This caused an uproar in the house with BJP and Congress MLAs entering into a verbal duel.
Modhvadia further said that he had pictures of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Ratan Tata and Radia together before signing of the deal in 2008.
To this Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel raised a ''point of order'' and sought deletion of Modhvadia''s comments from the records of the house proceedings.
Citing assembly rules, Patel said that a member making allegations has to provide documentary evidence in the house substantiating his or her claims.
Speaker Ganpat Vasava, however, reserved his order on request to expunge Modhvadia''s comments from the records.
During question hour, Modhvadia had made reference to Radia, without naming her, and said that just to oblige a lady from Delhi the government gave away benefits worth Rs 29,000 crore to Tata.
After completion of question hour, he demanded that there be a discussion on the deal between Tata motors and state government in a ''zero hour'', which was opposed by the BJP.
After Patel raised the point of order, Modhvadia thanked him as it would now allow him to put all the documents with him on table of the house.
The Porbander MLA said he had been trying to get this opportunity since the deal was signed, and now the government himself had given him a chance. Modhvadia bowed thrice and thanked his for the opportunity.
He also demanded that that a consultative committee be formed for verifying his claims with regard to Tata, Radia and Gujarat government on Nano deal.
Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said the subject did not require a point of order. But minister Patel had given a change to Congress by raising the point of order.
In a related question in the Assembly as to how many local people were employed in the Nano unit in Sanand, Labour and Employment Minister Vaju Vala said out of 2,539 people employed, 1,954 were locals.